Of Strange Loves and Stupid Deals
by Love Missile
Summary: When Alphonse starts feeling the typical desires of puberty, his brother agrees to show him the things he can't experience on his own, being trapped in the armor. Now a certain greedy person wants also his share of the cake. And in the aftermath, Edward's feelings towards his brother begin to get really messed up. SLASH: Edward/Al, Edward/Greed.
1. Chapter 1

This story is set in the 2003 anime continuity, right after Greed kidnaps Al. But it assumes that Greed never went to Dante's house, and that the Elric brothers established themselves for a while in Dublith, instead of going directly to Ishbal.

* * *

 **Chapter 1  
**

For the umpteenth time, Alphonse stirred in his bed. It wasn't that he needed to sleep, being a hollow armor and all that, but he liked to pretend he did, like his brother in the next bed. Just as, from time to time, he pretended to eat. It was just another way to feel like a normal child.  
However, that night the subterfuge was not working.

"Mmmm... Al, what's wrong with you? Every time you move, the whole bed squeaks", groaned Edward, muffling his sleepy words against the pillow.

"I'm sorry, brother. I've been very restless lately, and there's nothing to calm me down."

"I'll go over there and calm you down, if you keep making noise and don't let me sleep!", threatened his brother, and then turning on his side to face him in the dark, he added in a softer tone: "Hey, Al, can you tell me what's troubling you?"

Even inside the huge armor, Ed could sense his brother jerking up. And the gauntlets drummed nervously over his breastplate.

"It's... it's a little embarrassing to tell."

"And what about the embarrassment I feel every time people confuse you with the Fullmetal Alchemist and the older brother? Equivalent Exchange, Al! Now it's your turn to feel embarrassed. Tell me what happens to you."

Alphonse sighed deeply.

"All right, brother, since you're so tiresome... You know, I've had very strange thoughts these past few days. Especially at night. Do you remember the other day, when Winry came to visit us, and she wore such a short skirt?"

"I don't know. Didn't she wear pants that day?"

"No, she was wearing a miniskirt! And when she sat down on the couch then...eh...well, it rode up her thigh. And I kept staring for a long time, I don't know why. And now... now I can't stop thinking about that and..."

"Uh, Al", Edward didn't like the turn that the conversation was taking.

"... And I've been wondering how must feel when... you know", Al turned to his brother and looked at him in the dark, with those two points of light that he had for eyes. "Have you been with any girl?"

"I'm with you all day long, Al! And when I'm not with you, I'm in one of those missions for that bastard Colonel. Where the hell would I find time to meet girls!?"

"Well, but at least you know how it feels, don't you? When you get into the bathroom for such a long time and you touch yourself. Isn't that like making love?"

Edward felt his cheeks burning red and his mouth became suddenly dry. And then he had a fit of coughing. The innocence with which Alphonse could mention that, had disarmed him completely.

"Fuck, Al, but how do you know that!?", he exploded at last, once he recovered his voice. Maybe if he got angry, his humiliation wouldn't be so obvious.

"I'm sorry brother. I didn't want to notice, but you always make a lot of noise."

Ed buried his face in the pillow, not knowing whether to curse or cry. And all this time he thought he was discreet! At least he hoped he had never let out an embarrassing name or phrase.  
Although that wasn't the biggest problem now. The biggest problem was that the dreaded day had come finally, the day Edward had been waiting so anxiously all these years, because he knew it was inevitable, sooner or later: the day in which Alphonse would ask him about "that" theme. And the most horrible thing was that it didn't matter how well he explained it to him. In the end, the only true fact was that Alphonse was a 14 year old boy, with the thoughts and desires typical of his age, but without any body to satisfy them, without any means to relieve his frustration. And it was he, Edward, who had left him in such a miserable state. Who had taken away his ability to feel pleasure, any pleasure. Maybe forever. Although this possibility was so odious, that he didn't dare to even conceive it.

"Shit, Alphonse! Why did you ask me this?", he cursed, slamming the headboard of the bed with his automail arm, in a fit of rage.

"Brother, you have broken the board... Sorry if I have bothered you, I won't speak of these things again.", muttered Al.

There was so much desolation in his voice that Edward felt the most despicable creature in the world.

"No, Al, you're not the one to apologize. The fault is mine and mine alone. We were so young when _that_ happened, that you never had a chance to discover these things for yourself. It makes me want to die, just to think that at your 14 years you've never had an orgasm, not once in your life! Fuck!"

"Brother…"

For several minutes, they fell both in absolute silence. Alphonse staring at the blackness of the ceiling, and Edward sunk into his pillow, breathing hard, calming the hatred he felt toward himself at that moment.  
And among the swirl of confused ideas of his head, one in particular suddenly lit up. A very strange idea, and yet one that seemed tremendously obvious, as if it had always been there but he had never noticed it before.

"Look, Alphonse", whispered Ed at last, his voice trembling. "Do you want ... do you want me to show you?"

And his brother nodded without words. Words were not necessary.  
Edward got up and approached the other bed, kneeling on the mattress. Al sat up a little to leave him room, and just watched his brother in silence, who was now taking off his vest.

"If at some point you feel uncomfortable, Al, you just ask me to stop. Alright?"

"Yes…"

The moon of Dublith that streamed through the window lit up Edward's naked torso: white, and golden there where his hair brushed it, and silvery upon the metal joint of his shoulder.  
Alphonse had seen him naked hundreds of times, but never in that way, never so intimately. And seeing his body under that light, with the pale rays and shadows creating chiaroscuros in every muscle of his anatomy, he felt something new and different.  
Edward bent over him, took his hand, that cold, metallic hand, and guided it to his chest, upon one of his nipples.

"Like this, Al, move your finger in circles", explained his brother, smiling with affection. "Do you feel anything?"

"I can feel the warmth of your skin, and your heart beating so fast."

"Yes. To tell the truth, I'm very nervous. And your hand is frozen, but... I like it. You see, I have a theory: since we lost our bodies at the same time, we must have visited the Gate of Truth also at the same time, even if you don't remember anything. And perhaps, somehow, our bodies and spirits were intertwined at that moment. So if we are very close physically, and if we strive to unite our spirits, maybe we'll manage to make you feel a part of the pleasure that I feel, if only a little. That is my hope... Or maybe I'm just talking nonsense, I don't know."

Sighing, he took Alphonse's hand and dragged it down slowly, across his chest, his stomach, his hip bone, his abdomen, caressing his skin at the same time with his own finger and the gauntlet of Al. The mixture of warm flesh and cold metal had always aroused him, ever since he discovered the advantages of having an automail arm to satisfy his bodily needs. 

Alphonse gasped when his hands reached the edge of the boxers, but he didn't pull away. And Edward, still looking into his eyes, took a further step and removed the last piece of cloth that covered him.  
Even if they weren't visible, he knew his brother's pupils were dilating right now. And in the half-light, the tip of his member gleamed swollen and expectant.

"Oh brother! I had never, never ...", stammered Al.

"Had you never seen one like this? Erect?"

"No, I don't think so."

"Do you like it?"

"Yes. But it looks uncovered, doesn't it? And very red... can I touch it?"

Ed smiled, between sad and touched, and moved closer to his brother. Al raised his hand shyly, stroking his hair and cheek in response. Then Edward took his fingers, warmed them a little with his breath, and placed them on his pubis, where the golden hair glinted.  
Al felt the blood throbbing beneath the thin skin, and always guided by his older brother, descended even more and began to caress the member as he was shown. Edward closed his eyes and tilted his head to the side.

"God, Al!", he moaned, running his finger along the same path that the gauntlet had traced.

"Do you believe in God now, brother?"

Ed burst into laughter.

"No, of course. And it's the worst time to start believing in him, don't you think? But tell me, can you feel anything, any of the things I'm feeling?"

Alphonse lowered his head.

"I don't know, not much. I feel a warmth inside me that wasn't there before. That counts?"

"Wait, let's try something else", and Ed dragged himself to his brother, leaned his back against the steel chest, pressing as much as he could against him, and grabbed him by the hand with his flesh-and-bone arm. "Now embrace me with your other arm, and touch me there like you were doing before."

Al followed the directions, and his brother spread his legs to give him free access. With him curled up against his armor like that, he could now feel his palpitations much better, the heat that radiated and fused with his metal, the gasps and soft moans that cut his breath more and more each time.

"Mmm... keep going like this, you're doing it very well, Al... Oh, yes! Very well ...", whispered Edward, as if in a trance.

And little by little, he began to move his hips, following the rhythm of his brother, and correcting him with his own fingers when he didn't apply the appropriate pressure or touched some favourite spot.  
The moonlight flickered over the beads of sweat on his neck, and a clear dew had also appeared on his glans. Ed spread the new fluid along his member, as lubrication, and then spit in his hand and spread the saliva too.

"Brother, why did you do that disgusting thing!?"

"I'm sorry, Al, but your gauntlets are a bit rough, and it was getting in flesh and blood."

"Do I hurt you?", exclaimed Al, distressed.

"No, dumbass, no. Come on, stroke my hair, and my good arm. I like being touched in my good arm... Thus, thus..."

Ed let out a deep sigh and quickened the rhythm of his hips a little. It could be clearly seen how each muscle and tendon went into tension. And seeing him like that, Alphonse also felt a tangle of tension tightening inside him, more or less where his abdomen should have been, and it seemed to him that if the tension continued to build up, it would burst at any time.  
In the meantime, Ed had reached that point where he became truly noisy, and he no longer cared if what came out of his mouth were blasphemies, sobs, moans, or chemical formulas. His glans had become slippery, so much that Al could hear the moist sound of the skin as it glided on it.  
In a certain moment, it almost escaped from between his fingers, which were certainly not the most skilled in the world, and without realizing it, he squeezed it more than usual.  
Then it happened:

"Fuck, Al, fuuuck!", shouted Ed, while his whole body stirred in a spasm.

And an explosion of liquid rose in the air like a white fountain.  
For an instant, Alphonse's mind was left empty and he forgot all he knew, even his name. Weakly, like a distant echo, came to him the waves of pleasure that shook his brother's body at that moment. And an indefinite and dampened bliss, which seemed to be everywhere and at the same time nowhere, invaded his spirit.  
Alphonse only let out a soft sigh, as his brother slowly quieted down, amidst shudders that grew weaker.

"Ah! I haven't strength to even get up. It's as if my bones had been transmuted into gelatin", murmured Ed, collapsing on the armor.

Still with his legs open, he looked at his member, reddened and slightly twitching. They had been a bit rough with "little Eddie"; it would hurt later.

"Shit! I should stop calling it _little Eddie_. Speaking about internalizing complexes", he groaned to himself, and then, turning to his brother, who still encircled him with his arms, he asked:

"Well, Al, how did you like it?"

"It was very beautiful, brother. Like alchemy."

"Uh, like alchemy?"

"Yes, it was as if all your energy, all your tension, transmuted into that white substance, into a kind of... alchemical explosion of pleasure?"

Edward smiled, blushing a little.

"That's very deep, Al. Now that you put it that way, you've made cumming seem a million times more interesting for me. But what about you? Could you perceive something?"

"Yes, I have felt "something", and looking down, he added: "Although I think it wasn't comparable to what you felt." 

"Yeah, of course...", muttered Edward, but then he struggled to conceal his sadness; Al should never be aware of his doubts: "Well, don't worry, it's just something temporary that we'll fix soon. I'm certain that the solution to recover our bodies is very close, although we still can't see it", these last words were lost in a yawn; that sweet drowsiness in which always concluded his orgasms, started to sweep through him. "Hey, Al, do you mind if I sleep in your bed today?"

"Of course not, brother. I want to have you close right now, as well", he admitted, pulling a lock of hair from his forehead.

Edward then proceeded to get comfortable, after cleaning a bit the mess he had caused. He put the sheet and pillow between Alphonse's body and his own, to avoid the coldness and hardness of the metal, and snuggled into his arms. Sometimes, being so little had its advantages.  
Alphonse, however, was still nervous. And a worrisome idea had assailed his mind. Again, his fingers drummed on the breastplate.

"Let it out, Al. What's the matter with you now?", mumbled Ed, closing his eyes.

"It's just... I'm not sure... what we just did... is it normal between brothers?"

Edward opened his eyes suddenly, startled by the question. At no time had such a doubt surfaced his mind. So far, everything had seemed absolutely natural to him.

"I don't know, Al. We live among normal people, but... we're hardly normal. So, what does it matter?"

Alphonse looked up at the ceiling, as if to find the answer there. But since there was nothing, he merely sighed.

"You're right. What does it matter."

"I'm always right, you should know it by now", and squeezing even more against him, Edward let out a murmur of happiness: "Good night, Al."

"Good night, brother."

Caressing his hair as he fell asleep, Alphonse told himself that he had never felt so close to him before.  
And yet, a whole world still separated them.

That was the first time the Elric brothers got close to each other in such a way, though it was by no means the last.  
Edward learned to notice when his brother felt that "restlessness", and it wasn't even necessary to ask anymore. He just got up from the bed and offered himself, without a word.

What neither of them knew was that outside, in Dublith's night, a couple of bright eyes were also witnesses to their secret pleasures, from a tree by the window. And beneath those eyes, a smile full of sharp teeth emerged from time to time.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

A month had passed since the Elric brothers settled in Dublith, but Edward never found his chance to leave. Whenever they were about to embark on a trip to another city, the stupid Colonel had to call and order him some stupid mission, befitting only for the stupidest of the military.  
This time it was a series of mysterious robberies in some shops and jewelry stores. The thief was so skilled that he always managed to escape without the victims having time to see his face, and without hurting anyone. Almost all the descriptions spoke of a tall man with spiky hair, although others believed they had seen some strange-looking accomplices with him.

Ed grumbled, apathetic, as he headed for the scene of the latest robbery, this one in a jewelry store. The case was so trivial that he hadn't bothered to bring Al with him. After all, the thief didn't seem to be able to use alchemy or have any special ability; he was just an ordinary, slippery crook. Easy peasy. Besides, Winry had come to visit them for a few days, and he didn't want to leave her alone in the house.  
The reports of the witnesses asserted that the fugitive had disappeared, as if by magic, after going to a dead-end street. And that's where Edward was at that moment.  
The only thing in the alley was an unsurmountable wall and the side of an old abandoned factory. As he supposed, there was no trace of alchemy anywhere, so the thief must have fled through conventional means.  
When he looked up, he discovered that one of the factory panes was broken, precisely in a window that bordered on a drainpipe.

"So he climbed up there and hid inside, huh? He must be nimble, but it doesn't impress me. Let's see what clues left our friend...", said Ed to himself, opening a hole in the wall without difficulty.

The main floor of the factory was immense, dark, and oozed humidity from each side. In the farthest corners the squeaks of rats could be heard, startled by the unexpected visitor, and an unsettling rushing spread on the rafters overhead. In the gloom, Ed distinguished a half-rusted assembly line and several hydraulic presses. The factory must had been inoperative for several years, although it was possible that the machinery still worked.  
It was going to take him quite a while to go over the whole place, so he summoned all his patience, and went deep into it with little interest.  
About halfway through, the creak of some chains hanging from the ceiling caught his attention.

"Hello there, blondie", said a sly, slightly familiar voice.

Squinting, Edward could see the silhouette of a man, hanging upside down with his legs intertwined in one of the beams. Out of instinct, he transmuted at once his automail arm into a sharp blade.

"Who the hell is going there? Get down right now if you don't want me to kick your ass!"

"Hey, calm down, calm down! So it's true that the little ones are bad-tempered. Besides, I'm the one you're looking for."

And under Ed's nose, he dropped all the jewels and necklaces freshly stolen from the jewelry, which rang with a metallic clatter as they hit the floor. The boy blinked, not understanding.

"What is this?"

"Oh? Do you despise my act of good faith? Actually, I don't need any of these trinkets, even if they belong to me. Like everything else. You see, I only did those robberies to attract your attention, that's all. And I see that you come all alone... Better for me, although very careless of you. Don't you know what happens to the pretty and helpless little boys who walk alone in abandoned buildings?"

"Since I'm not a helpless little boy, no, I don't know. So enlighten me."

"What happens to them...", began the voice, as the silhouette jumped from the beam and fell to the ground with a somersault. "... is that sometimes they find _monsters_."

Edward moved back a couple of steps as he recognized the figure in front of him, now illuminated by the sun coming from a skylight. Tall, thin, pointed boots, black leather pants, a tacky jacket with fur collar, round sunglasses, and a shark smile that spellt "Danger". He would recognize him anywhere.

"Greed!"

"At your service."

"What are you doing here!? If you were looking for my brother to kidnap him again, I'm sorry to inform you that he hasn't come with me", said Ed, taking a defiant stance.

Greed laughed mockingly.

"Your brother? Yes, I see that you worry a lot about him, although in this case it's not necessary. You love your brother dearly, right? You always keep him in your thoughts..."

"Of course I love him, he's my brother for a reason!"

Greed cocked his head, examining his opponent as if he were the funniest creature in the world.

"Well, if I'm not mistaken, your brother has recently become more than a brother for you. Isn't it true?"

Edward gasped, and all his muscles froze in place.

"What... what shit are you talking about, Greed?"

"Don't play innocent with me, since there's little innocence left in you, boy! You know very well what I'm talking about. I've seen you at night: naked, panting, cumming between his arms. One night. And another. And another!", Edward recoiled, holding back the trembling of his legs, and felt the blood suddenly rushing to his cheeks. The homunculus approached him, licking his lips in a predatory gesture. "So you can't deny it, how you surrender yourself to that brother without a body that inhabits a hollow armor. Well, how do you call that? Incest? Necrophilia? Sex with inanimate objects? A mixture of it all?"

Edward lowered his head and looked away.

"I call it love."

"Uh?"

"Yes love! Because there is nothing, absolutely nothing in this world, that I wouldn't do for my brother. And if to feel close to him, if to make him feel that he's human too, I need to resort to sex, so be it! Love can take familiar forms with which everyone is comfortable, or strange and even monstrous forms. But it's love all the same! I don't need to define it in any other way.

Greed stroked his chin with interest.

"That's a fascinating philosophy, kid. And what about rape? Do you also include it among those monstrous forms of love?"

"Of course not!", shouted Ed indignantly, cutting the air between them with the blade. "Nothing that causes such suffering to others can be considered love! Never!"

"Humm... Well, it's a pity you think so, considering what is about to happen to you..."

"What?"

And without warning, Greed lunged at him, so fast that he managed to knock him down. There was an intense struggle for a few moments, in which Edward tried to wound Greed on the forearms with no success.

"Ultimate shield, remember?" laughed the homunculus, crushing him against the concrete.

Ed felt his adversary's crotch pressing against his, and for a second he was paralyzed with disbelief. But when Greed spread his legs, no doubt to increase the contact, he saw his chance to escape, and suddenly lifting his automail knee, he nailed it right in between. Greed howled in pain and rolled to the side as Edward jumped up.

"You forgot the ultimate shield _there_ , sucker."

Several alchemical stakes rose from the ground then, in an attempt to pierce the homunculus. However, all was in vain, because after the previous surprise, Greed had made sure that his shield was now perfect.  
Since the physical attacks were of no avail, Edward tried to get close enough to him to transmute his skin into a weaker material. But the homunculus was faster, and with one blow he ripped Ed's left sleeve, slicing the flesh in his wake. Edward staggered in pain, as a crimson trail stained the floor.

"I like it more thus. I'm even starting to get aroused", laughed Greed, moving toward him.

Momentarily defenseless, Edward saw no better way out than to raise a concrete wall between the homunculus and him, and try to run away. But it was quite dark in there, and his feet stumbled into some old gear lying on the floor. As a result, he fell flat on the surface of one of the assembly lines, and his knee hit painfully on a steel lever.  
A second later, he could feel Greed's weight against his back, pinning both of his arms on the conveyor belt. The hot breath of the monster caressed his nape.

"Oh, yes, that's just the way I wanted you, blondie! So vulnerable and exposed", and when Ed felt that hard thing tightening between his buttocks, he couldn't help a surprise gasp escaping his lips.

"Greed, what the fuck is this about!?"

"This is about me fucking your ass, that's what it is about. But first... I want to make sure you can't play any alchemy dirty trick on me."

And with a sudden wrist movement, Greed turned him around and slammed him face-up on the belt. Looking up at the ceiling, Ed found with horror that in this new position his automail arm was just under one of the hydraulic presses.  
The homunculus rested his leg on the lever.

"Greed, you won't..."

"I'm afraid this is going to hurt a little."

"Greed, no, you're crazy!"

Too late.  
The homunculus activated the lever with a sharp blow, and the press descended upon them, crushing both his automail and the hand itself that held it. Orange sparks and an infernal sound of ripped tendons clouded his senses. Greed's hysterical laughter echoed among the metallic screech.

"How unpleasant it's to lose a member, right? And yet, I can't help feeling some perverse pleasure every time I regenerate."

Before Ed's eyes, from the crushed stump grew new bones and covered themselves with muscles and skin, as if nothing had happened. His automail, on the other hand, had been reduced to... Well, to nothing.

"Why are you doing this to me, Greed!? My only problem with you was solved the day I rescued Al, and as far as I know, we haven't bothered you since. Why are you attacking me now?"

Greed smiled perfidiously, and coming to his ear, he whispered:

"Why? For the reason that all acts of this life are committed: the desire to possess. In this case, you", the homunculus buried his nose in his hair to inhale its scent, and Ed shook with disgust. "The first time I discovered you stripping naked in front of your brother, it caught me off guard. But I liked what I saw, and that's why I came back night after night. And I began to learn by heart the shape of your neck, the tendons of your shoulder, the way your hair fell down your back, and the bone of your clavicle, and the drops of sweat on your forehead, and the lines of your abdomen contracting with pleasure, and each vertebra of your spine as it arched. All that I made mine, all that I memorized to the last detail. And now I want to claim it, because it belongs to me."

Ed felt a sharp tongue tracing a damp trail down his neck. And Greed's left hand, free now that he didn't need to hold the ruined arm, slowly descended through his body and began undoing the belt and button of his trousers. When the long, cold fingers of the homunculus stroked his pubic hair, Ed tried to stir. But just with one arm, which was also wounded, and with Greed's largest body crushing him against the hard metal, there wasn't much he could do.  
How much, oh, how much he regretted not having brought Al!

"So you're blonde down here as well, huh?", relished Greed "How charming! But tell me, little one, aren't you scared? Aren't you going to cry?"

Edward tossed his head to the side, so he wouldn't have to look directly at those inhuman pupils hovering over him, and snorted with contempt.

"Pst! You're talking to someone who saw at age 11 how his brother disintegrated before him, and how the hope of resurrecting his mother became a deformed mass of bones and flesh. Do you really think I'm going to cry for something like this? I have seen the Gate of Truth! So you could say that I've seen it all."

"Oh? And what did you find behind that Gate of Truth?", continued Greed, pushing his fingers even lower inside his trousers. Edward held his breath; it was so strange, so unnatural, to have a hand of flesh and bone (apart from his own) caressing him there...

"I found the same mistakes and the same miseries as in this side of the Gate. That there is no Truth. That was the truth I found." he answered defiantly. And he bit his tongue, because he had promised himself that he wouldn't shed a single tear.

"Mmm... Such bitterness for such a young heart! And what a cold existence, just with the embraces of a metal brother. Don't you miss the warmth of flesh? I see you don't resist my moves. Does that mean you want me to rape you?"

Ed shrugged, still not deigning to look his enemy in the face, and paying no attention to the play of the tongue on his trachea.

"Do whatever you want with me. Why should I resist? So that you rip out my other arm? No thanks. I recognize that you have won. You already said it before: the whole world belongs to you, the money, the fame, the women. Now me too. So you can take my whole body, or what's left of it. But... if you take me by force now, there's one thing you will never, NEVER ever have, Greed the Avaricious."

And Ed looked at him out of the corner of his eye with a triumphant grin.  
As soon as he heard this, the homunculus froze and frowned furiously:

"That's impossible, I always get everything I want! What is that which I will never have, you arrogant child!?"

"My consent", said Edward, savoring each syllable.

Greed's eyes widened, and for a moment the words refused to flow into his throat. But then he laughed and moved away, removing his fingers from his victim's pants.

"Very cunning, boy. You got me there. And once mentioned, I can't stop desiring that consent of which you speak. True, why should I settle for raping you now, when I can get you to open yourself for me? I like challenges", he laughed, watching lustful as Ed fastened his pants again. "Well, what must I do to get your approval?"

Edward raised an eyebrow, playing hard to get.

"Equivalent Exchange, Greed! If you want to taste a little of the Fullmetal Alchemist, offer me something of equal value."

Greed smiled to himself, and shook the only hand of his opponent.

"We have a deal, then. Just remember that I always win", and then, looking casually at the jewels scattered on the floor, he added: "On that account, you can return it to its owners and tell your superiors that the robbery case is settled and there will be no more incidents. As far as I'm concerned, I'm done here."

And with a preternatural leap, Greed climbed onto one of the rafters and disappeared into the darkness of the ceiling.  
Once he had left, Ed let his legs give way and collapsed on the floor, at the brink of having a heart attack. It had been so close! And he still shuddered as he remembered Greed's cold touch in his most intimate parts.

"Oh, Alphonse, your older brother is a mess!" he sighed. And looking at the loose wires and twisted irons emerging from his right shoulder, he felt quite miserable.

Winry nearly fell off the chair when he returned home in such a state. Although if it was because of his general appearance or because of the automail that had gone to a better place, Ed didn't know.

"Brother, what happened to you!?" exclaimed Al, running to him.

 _Well, you see, Al, a homunculus almost raped me. But after offering me in prostitution, he thought better and left me alone, until he found a suitable price_.

That's what Ed thought. But instead of revealing his bitterness, he adopted a smile of unconcerned assurance, and merely replied:

"I had a fight with the thief and I ended up... er... falling into a ditch. But, well, everything is solved, and the thief in jail so... there's no need to talk about it anymore! What do we have for dinner?"

Winry buried her face in her hands, desperate.

"Don't worry about dinner, I'll make it. But seriously, Ed, be more careful with the automail! I'm tired of fixing it all the time. I should start charging you for every repair; by now, I'd have enough money to live in a palace!"

"Come on, Winry, don't be like that. You know you'd get too bored if I didn't wreck it from time to time", teased Ed, trying to win over her with his most charming smile. Winry looked at him resignedly.

"You're lucky that I always come prepared because you always screw it up somehow! Just be sure that you're going to spend a couple of days one-armed. This will take me time... And disinfect those cuts on your arm, or in the end they will have to amputate it too!"

After the due scolding, dining with Winry was very pleasant. They all laughed and talked about banalities, to the point that Ed almost forgot about the dark episode at the factory.  
It was for those little moments in family, for those scenes that made them go back to the days of their childhood in Riesenburg, that the Elric were willing to suffer any kind of hardship, in order to preserve even a little piece of that world.

At bedtime, they prepared the guest room for Winry, and each went to their own bed. Although as it had become customary, Ed didn't take too long to get up and sneak into the bed of his little brother.  
Alphonse quickly realized that Ed was more loving that night than usual, and clung to him as desperate, as in need of affection. He was afraid that Winry would hear them through the wall, since her room was right next to theirs. But luckily, Ed wasn't very noisy this time, just sighing and moaning quietly from time to time.  
For Alphonse, it was an especially moving experience, although a deep part of his soul intuited that his brother was worried about something that he hadn't told.

While this was happening in the Elric's bedroom, elsewhere in the city Greed stirred nervously, surrounded by his faithful chimeras in his shelter of the Devil's Nest. The homunculus was lying upside down on a couch, legs over its back, and a cigarette burned between his lips, furrowed in concentration.

"Guys, you have to help me with a conquest", he mumbled, between puff and puff.

Martel and Dolcetto looked at each other.

"Another poor maid who will fall prey to your charms, sir?" sighed Martel, rolling her eyes.

"You're a girl, or at least you used to be, Martel. Give some advice", said Dolcetto.

"Umm... I suppose he could gift her something nice: some flowers, some chocolates, some jewels...", proposed the snake woman thoughtfully. "I imagine that girls like these things. Although I don't know; nobody gave me a gift ever." 

Greed's eyes flashed with cunning, and a half smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

"Well, this conquest is a bit different from the others. However, I will follow your advice and try those gifts, Martel."

Roa dropped his huge body on the couch and elbowed the homunculus with complicity.

"And what is she like?"

"Oh? How could I explain it?" Greed narrowed his eyes, and as if he was in the midst of a dream, he murmured: "Golden hair that falls into a braid, eyes the color of dawn, white velvet skin, ardent and temperamental, a passionate nature..."

"Wow! Sounds like hot stuff."

"You have no idea..."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

From that day onwards, and during the following weeks, Greed's harassment campaign began. Ed could barely go anywhere alone, without the homunculus showing up in the most unexpected way and trying to seduce him with the most absurd gifts. It didn't matter whether he went to Dublith's military detachment to report, to the bakery for the daily buying, or to the post office to send a letter to Winry and Grandma Pinako. Greed always managed to pounce on him from behind a bush, from the top of a tree, or jumping from a wall. There was a point, where Edward was almost afraid to go to the bathroom and unzip his pants, just in case Greed poked his head out the toilet to offer him a ring or something.

Besides were the gifts, each of them worse than the other. The first was a bouquet of flowers, which Edward transmuted into thistles without second thoughts, before Greed's desperate visage. The second was a box of chocolates, of which Ed only ate one, exploding the rest in the face of the homunculus, and leaving him bathed in chocolate. The third was a pendant with a sapphire, which ended up transmuted into a gruesome wristband, with skulls and bats embedded in precious stones. For a moment, Greed hoped that, perhaps, this gift would please his beloved once redesigned. But far from being true, Ed threw the piece of jewelry in his face and broke his glasses.

"Will you-stop-giving me-gifts-for women!?" yelled the boy, his patience exhausted.

Greed sank into misery from time to time.  
Not even when he tried with that which all men want, of which there's never too much, but just enough, he had more luck. Not even money worked. In fact, he could almost say that this was the gift which infuriated Edward the most. The alchemist turned beet red and threw the bag of gold coins in the air, screaming that he wasn't a whore.

In view of his epic failures, Greed stopped giving him more gifts, until he had planned something better, and was content to keep spying on the Elric brothers every night, consumed with desire.  
There, from the branch of his usual tree, he could at least gloat over that body which he couldn't conquer yet.  
Edward seemed especially ardent that night. With his brother's helmet pressed to his chest, Greed could see him raising and lowering his hips to the rhythm of friction. And was it his imagination, or since Ed learned that the homunculus was spying on them, he tried to place himself in front of the window to improve visibility?  
Just then, before Greed's eyes, the eldest Elric loosed his hair in a sensual gesture, turned directly to the tree where his secret admirer crouched, and licking his lips with lust, winked at him. He winked at _him_ , _Greed_. The homunculus almost lost his balance and fell off the branch.

"But this boy is the devil himself!"

He thought he couldn't feel more aroused and frustrated than he already felt; that proved him wrong.  
Most humiliating of all, was that his target preferred to rub against a hollow armor rather than to sleep with him. He was attractive, right? At least he never had trouble before to seduce the countless women (and not a few men) who had fallen into his clutches. Or was that boy so perverted, that he preferred his bodyless brother precisely for its inadequacy? No, it couldn't be that. Now he remembered that Ed's main objective, perhaps his only goal in this life, was to restore his brother's body...  
It was then that Greed saw it all clear. It had been so obvious from the start...

With a triumphant grin, the homunculus jumped down from the tree.  
He always won.

Not many days later, Edward walked the countryside around Dublith, carelessly. Al was staying at the house of their teacher Izumi, helping her to transplant some plants of her garden. Caring for living beings, for anything that grew on earth, had always been a great hobby for Alphonse. And although Ed would have accompanied them normally, since the mere fact of seeing Al enjoying was enough to make him happy, that day he preferred to relax by taking a walk.

"Anyway, that pain-in-the-ass Greed hasn't bothered me in a long time," he thought with satisfaction.

"It's a beautiful morning, isn't it, blondie?"

"... Or perhaps I trusted too soon ...", he said to himself, resignedly, and in a loud voice added: "You again? I told you already that you can't buy me with any of those shitty gifts!

The homunculus emerged from behind a pile of hay, and seemed more friendly than usual.

"Is that how you speak to your soon-to-be lover? The gift that I bring you today is not shitty in the least."

Ed rolled his eyes and put his hand to his forehead.

"What is it this time? A tiara, a lace dress, a pony?"

"This time is this!", and with a grin from ear to ear, Greed raised his hand, in which a tiny red stone emitted a gleam of blood in the sun.

Edward froze on the spot, and for a few seconds he couldn't speak.

"That... That's... is it possible that is...?"

"The Philosopher's Stone, exactly."

The alchemist blinked once, twice, many times. But at once he regained his boastful air.

"I don't believe you. It's impossible for a homunculus like you to possess the Stone. It must be one of those pathetic fakes like Father Cornello's."

Greed raised his eyebrows in a mock gesture of grief.

"Your unbelief breaks the heart I never had, little one."

"Who do you call littl... !?", but the homunculus interrupted his explosion of anger by placing a finger on his lips, and brought the stone to his ear.

"Come on, don't you feel it? The cries of the damned within? You know what I say is true."

Indeed, as if coming from a very distant cavern, Ed perceived the echoes of agony from hundreds of distressed souls. The effect was so shocking, that he was forced to retreat in disgust.

"I know what the Philosopher's Stone is made of! However, forgeries and incomplete stones also contain the same "ingredients". How do I know this is the real one?"

"You know it already, inside your heart. If not, why have your eyes started to sparkle? It's the gleam of desire that I see in them", Ed looked away, self-conscious. "However, since your reason still refuses to believe what your heart tells it, I'll give you a demonstration."

And with a movement so fast that it could barely be seen, the homunculus caught a lizard that had been lying in the sun on a nearby stone. Then, to Edward's horror, he twisted its neck thoughtlessly, leaving the poor creature on the threshold of death.

"Hell, Greed! Why have you done something so unnecessary!?"

"Shh, shut up and watch!"

Greed brought the stone to the inert animal, and it began to emit a blinding glow. Instantly, the creature revived as if by magic, showing no sign of the damage it had just suffered.

"Here, take it. You'll see that it's really alive, it's not a trick, nor a temporary illusion. I could only resurrect it because its spirit hadn't yet abandoned it, since definitive death is ... well, you know better than anyone, right?" he smiled, running his finger down the joint where Ed's chest merged with metal. The boy eluded the caress, annoyed. "However, you will agree that only the true Philosopher's Stone can do something like this."

Ed watched the lizard scurrying between his fingers, fascinated. So it was true: what they had sought all these years, their main motivation to keep fighting every day, the redress of their sin, Al, Al's body... all that was there, within reach of his hand, so close that he only needed to extend his fingers.  
Edward set the animal on the ground, then hurled himself at Greed.

"Give it to me, give me that stone right now!" he shouted frantically.

But an arm covered with an impenetrable shield stopped the blade of his automail.

"Hey, hey, kid, that's not very kind of you! What happened to the Equivalent Exchange?"

"Fuck that! All I care about is Alphonse!"

The homunculus stopped again the blows of his adversary, and raised the stone above his head, leaving it out of reach. This made Ed even more angry, reminding him how much taller Greed was than him.

"Don't be an idiot, blondie. This stone is tiny, I just brought it as a sample, and it doesn't have enough power to achieve what you want. The good one is in a safe place, until you fulfill your part of the deal. Or did you really think I'd be so stupid not to watch my back?"

Edward calmed down a little at this, and stopped attacking the homunculus, since that didn't lead anywhere.

"The good one? Just how many stones of those you have, Greed?"

"Enough to bring your little brother back. It turns out that the person who created me was skilled in making Philosopher's Stones, and still has a good number of them. I'm the image of an old lover whom she tried to resurrect, so that, as you will understand, she feels a special affection for me. That's why she gave me some of her Stones. Everyone wants something, believe me, I know what I'm talking about. And what you want is to get your brother's body back, right? In order to touch him, to feel him...", Greed leaned over Edward and began to caress his neck. His warm breath brushed his ear as he whispered, "I want something, too. I want to touch you and that you let me, I want you to moan my name just as you moan the one of Alphonse. So, do we have an Equivalent Exchange?

Edward half smiled sarcastically. Exchanging his body for Al's? Greed must have been crazy if he thought that deal had something of "equivalent." Al's body was worth much, much more than a mere night of sex. Let Greed do as he pleased with his body; as far he was concerned, he could invite his chimeras later to have fun with him too. What did that mean, compared to the joy of holding his brother in his arms again? Nothing, it meant nothing. And Alphonse would understand when he explained it to him, Alphonse would be eternally thankful for the sacrifice he was now to make.  
Edward shook the hand offered by the homunculus:

"We have an Equivalent Exchange!"

When Al returned after a hard day's work at the teacher's house, stained with dirt from head to toe, his brother was in the sitting room, staring in thought at his cup of tea.

"Hey, hello, Al," he muttered.

"Oh, brother, you should have come, it's been so fun...! We have transplanted a small apple tree, and trimmed the hedges with shapes (mine was like an elephant), and you know, in one of the trees there was a nest with small birds. Then I trained a little with the teacher, she told me that my movements were a bit rusty. Ah, ah! And you know what? A kitten sneaked into the house, it was orange with stripes, and it let me touch it. We returned it to the neighbor because it had escaped..."

Alphonse let go of everything that had happened that afternoon, excited. And his brother just nodded across the table, looking at him with a strange smile, a mixture of happiness and melancholy. Al wasn't sure if he really listened to him, or if his thoughts wandered far from that room.  
When he finished his story, Edward took a sip of tea, got up from the table, and without warning, encircled his brother's shoulders and kissed his cold cheek.

"Soon, Al, very soon, our lives will change. And everything will be better" he sighed, still with his lips against the metal.

And although his embrace and kiss were brotherly at first glance, Al had the impression that there was something else in the background, like a repressed and throbbing desire. As if his arms tightened more than usual, or the kiss was more intense than normal.

If Al had real cheeks, they would surely be blushing right now.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Edward had agreed to fulfill his part of the deal first, and receive his reward later. The disadvantageous position in which this agreement left him, wasn't reassuring in the least, but Greed wouldn't have it other way. In any case, the homunculus had no reason to deceive him; it was true that he possessed the Philosopher's Stone, and it didn't seem to interest him much. In addition, the great difference between costs and benefits was well worth taking the risk.

"Costs…"  
Edward looked at himself in the mirror once more and smoothed out his jacket again, which didn't need any smoothing. He was a nervous wreck, and a tickling knot was forming in his stomach.  
As he convinced Al to go to the teacher's house that day too, and to stay as long as he wanted, without worrying about returning late, he was almost afraid that his brother would read the nervousness in his eyes. He had to stay at home filling out dull military reports, he explained.  
At last he saw his little brother leaving the house from the bedroom window. Once he made sure Al had gone far enough, he turned his attention to the bushes growing beneath the sill.

"Psst, Greed! He's gone, you can come upstairs now."

The homunculus sprang from his hiding place and climbed nimbly up the gutter, to the open window.

"You know what? That square thing of the facade is called "door", and can be used to enter buildings", said Ed sarcastically. Greed shrugged:

"Bah! I'd rather come in through the window and feel like a raptor. That way is more exciting", and taking a look at the bedroom he was in, he added, "Which one is your bed?, or do you prefer that we do it in your brother's?"

"No! My bed is the one over there! And leave my brother out of this, he's innocent and doesn't need to know anything about this sordid affair. Someday I'll explain it to him, but... not now."

"Yeah...", Greed sat on the indicated bed, and looked up and down at his prize, with a wide grin. "By the way, I've brought a bottle of wine, just in case you need to get in the mood."

"I don't drink!"

"Of course, I forgot you're still a little boy."

"Who're you calling a microscopic little boy the size of a bean!? If I don't drink, it's because it's a disgusting habit. Besides, that idiot sometimes drank and came home stinking of...", Ed lowered his head, suddenly upset by some memory. Greed raised an eyebrow out of curiosity, but the boy quickly recovered: "Anyway, let's start with this... _thing_. The sooner we do it, the sooner we'll finish."

"Then go ahead. Don't be shy about me."

Edward looked around as if salvation was in that room, and extended and flexed his fingers several times. He was beginning to feel a drop of cold sweat on his forehead. Finally, biting the bullet, he undid the first button of his jacket.

"Uhu", mumbled Greed, leaning back and crossing his legs. Ed could almost feel his lustful gaze fondling him from head to foot, and he shuddered.

"You know what, Greed? Bring the bottle here! I guess it's never too late to start drinking."

The homunculus chuckled and brought the wine to him. Trying not to vomit, Ed almost drank half in one sitting.

"Eww! The first and last time I try this crap", he groaned, leaving the bottle on a small table.

Greed took pity on him, grabbed him by the hand, and made him sit by his side on the bed.

"It will be easier if I do this", he whispered.

And as he kissed his neck, he began to undress him button after button. Once stripped of the shirt, he laid him on the bed and proceeded to take off his boots. But when his fingers touched his pants' buckle, Ed jerked up. The boy was almost shaking with nervousness, and his breathing quickened.

"What's wrong with you?"

"I... It's just that I... Despite what you might have seen me do with Al... I... It's my first time."

Greed lowered his glasses to look at his face, not believing what he heard.

"Are you telling me you're a virgin?"

"Well of course! What did you think?"

The lower jaw of the homunculus hung in surprise.

"But I thought... I mean, I heard you worked under a colonel. Are you telling me that you're not his little sex toy?"

"Whaaaaaaat!?" there was a sulfuric explosion of redness, smoke and sparks in Edward's face. "Me and that bastard!? No!... Oh, God, no!... Argh! That picture... out of my head!... But why would you think that!?"

The homunculus shrugged.

"I don't know. They admitted you among the National Alchemists despite your young age, due to some "special talent". You spend half a life locked up alone in an office with adults. You dress in black leather... You'll admit it makes one wonder. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has imagined it."

Ed covered his face with his hands, snorting in despair. How many more people had thought that when they saw him? Lieutenant Hawkeye? Major Armstrong? The Führer himself!? That is, every time they saw him enter the Colonel's office, they said to themselves, "Look, there goes again that little slut, Edward, to get on all fours under the table of the great Roy Mustang". And after that they greeted him and smiled as if nothing!? And the bastard? Surely he had thought of it too! Surely he was delighted with the idea! God... he could never be alone with him again without feeling awkward.

The cold air brushing his belly's skin, suddenly brought him out of his thoughts. Greed had taken advantage of his distraction to finish stripping him, and now he watched him with unbearable intensity. Ed flushed.

"Oh, boy! This little body of yours, half flesh half metal, makes me feel all sorts of things...", said the homunculus, crawling over him. "Pride, for having surrendered you to my feet. Wrath, because you don't really desire me. Envy of your brother. Sloth...", he continued, lying down on him with languor. "And Lust, of course. And Gluttony", he added as he bit his ear. "And Greed, especially Greed", he finished, and wrapped his arms around him possessively, while licking his Adam's apple.

His fingers caressed tentatively the joint between his automail's arm and chest, and pressed as if to slip inside. Ed bit his lip, hissing.

"Does it hurt?"

"Almost."

"How interesting! Being on the edge of pain without reaching it, is the same as being on the edge of pleasure, don't you think?" and to mark his statement, he pinched one of his nipples.

"Ouch! Is it necessary to hurt in order to have sex, Greed?"

"Only if you want to do it well", laughed the homunculus.

His tongue was now busy with the metal cleft, and while one of his hands toyed with the nipple, the other went down his body to his inner thigh. Once there, he traced a path to the other joint, and searched for some damaged and hypersensitive nerve.  
Ed moaned and writhed slightly, and Greed felt something new pressing against his stomach.

"A reaction at last, huh?"

"Can we do this fast, Greed, please?"

The homunculus removed his glasses and frowned.

"Very well, kid. Since you're so impatient..."

Then, without further ado, Greed's tongue left a wet, tingling path through Edward's chest, and his stomach, and his belly, and his pubis, and finally along the semi-hardened member, culminating in the slit at the end.

"Ah, ah, ah! What the hell!?" exclaimed Ed, as a new and electrifying pleasure shook his legs.

That tongue kept fidgeting in every corner of his glans, and when the homunculus put his whole cock into his mouth, Ed wanted to die right there. Greed felt the member growing against his palate, and (perhaps unintentionally) brushed it a bit with his sharp teeth. Ed let out another moan and spread his legs even further, while his hips started to move on their own.

"Do you like this?"

The alchemist simply nodded, too suffocated to answer.  
But it wasn't right that he was enjoying this so much, said a voice in his conscience. He was supposed to do it just for the Philosopher's Stone, Greed was supposed to disgust him. And yet a few licks had been enough to make him hard.

 _Okay, he can't see me so horny_ , he told himself, trying to regain control of his body. _Alchemist concentration, Edward! Think of anti-erotic things, you can do it. Let's see... anti-erotic things ... Major Armstrong shirtless... Grandma Pinako's corset... Roy Mustang in a miniskirt... Argh, it doesn't work!_

Fortunately, Greed paused, brushing the last of his veins with his tongue, and gave him a break.

"Phew, boy, you're starting to lubricate and all! I'll better leave it here before you explode in my face. And now that you have discovered the wonders of fellatio, I'll teach you something else."

Then the homunculus put a finger in his mouth and sucked it until it was covered with saliva. Ed blinked in confusion, not understanding what was going on.  
Greed's head disappeared again between his legs, behind his cock erected like a post. At first it was only a thumb pressing in circles behind his balls, which was strangely pleasurable. But then, a forefinger joined his thumb, a long, bony, wet finger. And it was entering his body through the most unusual of entrances, it was touching him where Edward had never, NEVER EVER thought someone would touch him.

"Greed! But what are you doing!?" he yelled, squirming to escape. This was so humiliating, so shameful, so defiling...

"What do you think, virgin boy? I'm making you ready for what will come next. Truly, you know nothing at all about the workings of these things."

Ed lowered his head and closed his eyes, blushing. He didn't want to go through something so embarrassing, but he had no choice. And worst of all, it was very pleasant to feel that foreign finger inside him. The homunculus seemed to be looking for something in there, feeling both with his index finger and his thumb from outside. When he found it, Ed knew instantly why he had sought it out so much.

"Ooooh, Greeeeed...!" he sighed, arching his back and melting with pleasure.

The homunculus chuckled, and replied with a kiss on his balls.  
Now his finger thrusted in and out, always touching him in that magic spot, and Ed told himself that this had to be practically the same as fucking. Unable to hold back any longer, he relaxed his legs, let out of his mouth as many noises and curses occurred to him, and simply abandoned himself to the waves of pleasure, that ran through him whenever that spot was touched.

His short life had been full of heartache, misfortune and suffering, why couldn't he enjoy just a little of what was left of his body?  
A second finger joined the first. And then a third. By the time his tongue joined the fingers, Edward no longer thought whether this was embarrassing or not. He didn't really think about anything anymore. A pleasure different from what he had experienced until now, was building inside him, expanding from a deep and uncertain point. And it grew, and grew, and grew. And Edward knew that, whatever came next, it was going to be wonderful and special.

 _Maybe it's not going to be such a bad day after all. I, Edward Elric, the great Fullmetal Alchemist, am about to discover a new secret of chemistry. And surely Roy Mustang knows nothing of this! Oh! It's coming... I think it's coming... Just a little more... Just one more touch... Almost, almost, almost..._

Greed pulled his fingers outside and wiped himself with a handkerchief.

"Aaaaaargh! Greed, don't leave me like that, you damn homunculus son of a bitch!"

For the second time in his life, Edward Elric, the great Fullmetal Alchemist, had the impression that the Gate of Truth had closed in his face, leaving him a step away from what he searched.

"Hey, hey, boy, don't pretend to be more greedy than Greed himself! I've made you happy for a long while. Now it's my turn."

The homunculus began to undress, starting with his vest and continuing with his boots and trousers. The shirt, on the other hand, seemed to disappear just as if it was part of his skin.  
Before Ed was exposed a sinewy and muscular anatomy, a wide chest, crossed by some unhealed scars, firm and marked abs, and... well, something quite large below.  
Edward opened his eyes wide and swallowed.

"Uh... wow!... I... ahem... I think I now know why the person who created you chose the original as a lover."

"Impressive, isn't it? Although yours is very cute."

"What!? Are you saying that mine is so small that you can't even see it with a magnifying glass!?"

"Boy, have you ever thought of going to a specialist for your self-esteem problems?" he snorted, and grabbing the half-hardened member, nodded. "Come on, start sucking."

"I'm not going to suck that, God knows where it's been!"

As the only answer, Greed grabbed him by the braid and forced him to lower his head to his crotch level.  
Edward sighed miserably. This was no longer as fun as when pleasure was given to him, but he had to do it. He had to do it for Al, even if only for Al, it was worth it. Still shaking with neglected arousal, Ed put that piece of veined meat into his mouth. And repressing his gag reflex, he began to suck him, trying to imitate what Greed had done earlier with him.  
The homunculus murmured with satisfaction and grabbed the back of his neck, pushing his cock even deeper. Edward wasn't having a good time, though judging from Greed's occasional moans and spasms, he wasn't doing so badly. At some point, he was afraid that he would cum in his mouth; if he couldn't stand milk, that would certainly make him vomit.  
However, before this happened, the homunculus moved his head away and made him lie on his back.

"The moment of truth has arrived, Edward Elric. Are you ready?"

 _No, of course I'm not. I'm going to lose my virginity at age 15 with the product of a failed human transmutation. How could I be ready for that?_ thought Ed bitterly. But outside, he just nodded.

Greed stretched out on top of him, parted his legs until he was fully exposed, and placed the tip of his cock against the tight hole. Ed swallowed once, twice, many times.

 _There goes my last bit of innocence_.

There was a sudden thrust, followed by the feeling that his flesh tore and his body filled up strangely. It wasn't as painful as the reconnection of his nerves every time they changed his automail, and yet his eyes welled up with tears.  
Greed realized that he was holding back the urge to scream, and with a comforting caress he whispered:

"Let it out. It will be better."

And Edward let it out, but rather than a scream, it was a sob.  
Greed kissed his lips, without them kissing back. And then, at first very slowly, but quickening the pace more and more, he began to move in and out of his interior.  
Edward, definitely, wasn't having a good time anymore. The fingers had been pleasurable, but this was too much, too big for his body... his _little_ body.  
A moan escaped him with each thrust, even though he didn't want to, and the homunculus realized that they weren't moans of satisfaction.

"Edward... Ed...", he gasped. "Stop thinking it hurts. Pain only exists in your head. Aren't you an alchemist? Then transmute it into pleasure. I do it... all the time."

Ed nodded and closed his eyes. He wanted to imagine that he was in another place... no, not in another place, but with another person. The image became clearer, though it had a distant halo.  
Slowly his whole body relaxed. He became aware of each of his nerves, each tendon and each muscle. And he no longer had the feeling that this member was piercing him, rather it was his flesh which surrounded the member. He visualized in his mind that delicious spot inside him, and focused on that sensation. A deep sigh escaped his chest.  
To Greed's surprise, the boy suddenly wrapped his arms and legs around him, and pressed against him... he would almost say affectionately. And this time, it was Edward who kissed him. Something remote, perhaps a faint echo of the humanity he once had, stirred within the homunculus.  
But leaving aside these absurd feelings, Greed focused on speeding up his ramming. He was already on the very edge of the abyss; he could feel it in the spasms of his crotch, in the rattling of his throat. And Ed wasn't going to last much more either.

"Oh, Al! What are you doing to your older brother?" whispered Edward suddenly, as if in a trance, and dug the fingers of his mechanical hand into the homunculus' back. "Oh, Al!... Oh, Al!... Fucking me like this... Al!" Greed was sure the automail had made him bleed by tearing his skin. "Oh, Al!... Al!... But I'm your brother... how could you?" yes, it had made him bleed, and that was all he needed; with a gasp, Greed cummed inside him. "Ah! Oh, yes, Al! Al! Al! AL! **AAAL!**

"Brother?"

"Al?"

A spurt of white fluid splashed on Greed's chest, as Alphonse stared at the scene from the doorway.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

For a few seconds, the only sound heard in that room was Greed's pounding against Edward's body, with an increasingly faint and uncoordinated rhythm, and his gasps dying in his throat. Amidst his mind confusion after orgasm, Ed blinked several times, not understanding what his eyes saw on the door.  
Then the silence of that frozen scene was broken. Alphonse covered his eyes with his hands, and with a horrified scream he ran downstairs.

"Al, wait Al! I can explain it!" Ed attempted to go after him, but joined to the homunculus as he was, he only managed to hurt them both. "Damn, Greed, get out already! I have to talk with him!"

Greed didn't object and set him free. With his legs still trembling and his mind somewhat dazed by wine, Ed dressed as best he could, and tried to run after his brother. It was then that he realized how much he limped, and that he ached all over the lower half of his body.

Alphonse was curled up under the staircase, sobbing. The repulsive image was branded in his mind. His brother... and that monster?... But how could he do such a despicable thing!?... And he had seen everything, EVERYTHING!... The exact point where the homunculus' body disappeared within his brother's... Such ugliness!  
The image was so traumatic that all the other details hadn't recorded in his memory, including the name his brother screamed when he burst into the room.

"Al? Are you ok?" muttered Edward with a low whisper.

Alphonse turned his head to the other side.

"Don't come near me, I don't want to see you!"

"But Al, I…"

"I said I don't want to see you!"

Edward approached him hesitantly, and tried to put his hand on his shoulder.

"Don't touch me!" shouted Al, pushing him away. And finally, facing him up, he added: "How could you do something like that with a homunculus!? And with Greed of all things, after he kidnapped me! Are you crazy or what!?

Edward looked down, dejected.

"Al... It's not what you think..."

"It's not what I think!? I don't need to think anything, I've seen it with my own eyes! So this is what you did every time I went to see teacher Izumi, right? And then at night, after doing that, you would get into my bed! Pig, brother, you're a pig!"

"Al, you... are you jealous?" asked Ed, raising an eyebrow suspiciously. And a deep and secret part of his heart wished that he did, that it was true he was jealous. Alphonse leapt to his feet and stood over him, menacing.

"It's not that! But I worry about your safety, and what do you do? Bring a homunculus home, let him do with you those... those dirty things? And why do your eyes shine like that?" the slits of light narrowed, scrutinizing him. "Have you drunk alcohol!?"

"Uh... no..."

"Don't lie to me! What's wrong with you!?"

Edward clenched his fists, tense. He didn't feel like this right now, it wasn't the time right now, he didn't have the strength to face this situation. He felt devastated, and sad, and ashamed beyond what was humanly possible. All he wanted was to take a hot bath to get rid of that dirtiness... Although he knew that water couldn't clean that kind of dirt.

"Well, Al! Weren't you supposed to spend the whole afternoon with the teacher? Why the fuck are you back so soon!?"

"Because the teacher wasn't home this afternoon, you idiot brother!" exploded Al, and burying his face in his hands, he burst into tears again. It was so difficult, so unsatisfactory, having to cry without real tears...

To help make things worse, Greed went down the stairs then, already dressed, and joined them on the landing.

"Hey, hey, kid, don't be so hard on your big brother!" he said, encircling Ed around the waist.

"Greed... You're not helping."

"No, tell him to go away, tell him to go away! That monster... ", moaned Al, not daring to look at the homunculus.

"But do you know why he did it?"

"Yes! Because he's a pervert, that's why!"

That was it, that was the last straw. Edward couldn't stand it anymore. He had sacrificed himself for Al, he had given everything for him: his body, his virginity, his dignity... And this was what he received in return? Such shit of Equivalent Exchange! It wasn't fair, it wasn't fair. And he didn't want to explain the whole matter of the Philosopher's Stone right now. Al shouldn't have seen that. But he had no right to judge him like that either. On this occasion, his younger brother had no right to recriminate him. That's why he didn't hold back any longer:

"Who do you think you are to decide whom I sleep with or whom I don't, Al!? I'll do as I please! And if I want Greed to fuck me, then he can fuck me! Haven't you stopped to think that I also have needs? Needs that you can't satisfy... _because you're a hollow armor_!?" these last words echoed like a painful hammer in Alphonse's helmet.

Edward put his hands to his mouth at once, horrified by what he had just said. He had never, ever thought of Al as a mere armor, but only as his brother. He didn't know why that cruelty had escaped his tongue.

"Al, I... I..." he stammered.

Too late. Alphonse was paralyzed, reflecting his pain even in those little lights that served as his eyes. And the next moment he left the house running, with a sob that broke Ed's heart.

"Boy... now you got into hot water for real", sighed Greed, rolling his eyes. Edward lowered his head, as if the weight of the whole world had fallen on his shoulders.

"Let it be, Greed! And let's deal with the thing that really matters: the Philosopher's Stone. Where is it?"

Greed winced and withdrew his hand from the alchemist's waist. It seemed impossible, but his white homunculus skin grew even paler.

"Oh... uh... yes, of course... the... this... the Philosopher's Stone..." he stammered, taking a few steps towards the window and opening it. "It's hot in here, isn't it?"

On Ed's forehead, a vein had begun to swell.

"Cut the crap and answer me at last: where-is-the-Stone!?"

"Heh, heh, well, you see, it's funny!" Greed's voice was shaking suspiciously, and he rested his arm on the window sill. "Remember I told you that the person who created me had many Stones at her disposal?"

"Yes…"

"Well, she doesn't really have so many. Rather... she's running low on them."

"Yeah…"

"And do you remember I told you that she gave me the other stone because of her love for me?"

"Aha…"

"Well... how to explain it? It's not that she gave it to me... Rather, I stole it a long time ago... And our relationship... more than love, it could be said that is..."

"What?"

"Hate?"

"Greed..."

"In short: I don't have the Stone."

Greed leaned against the window defensively, fearful of what would come next. Edward had turned silent and still as a statue. The locks of hair on his forehead hid his eyes, so the homunculus couldn't know what he was thinking. Then a nervous tic contracted the corner of his mouth. And to his surprise, he started laughing between his teeth. A soft, disturbing laughter, a laughter in which he perceived a shade of hysteria.

"Greed, you screwed me before, didn't you?"

"Uh... yes."

"You screwed me whole, right? All the way inside, right?"

"Well... er..."

"You screwed me, and you liked it, and on top of that my brother saw it in detail."

"Boy, I..."

"Then, if you already screwed me once. WHY DO YOU SCREW ME NOW AGAIN!?"

The homunculus screamed in surprise, as he stepped aside to dodge the blade that flashed before his nose. Edward was going to cut him into a thousand pieces, with or without ultimate shield, of that he was certain. But Greed didn't want to fight him; he didn't like the idea of hurting a body that he had embraced so intimately a few minutes earlier.  
With his agile reflexes, he tried to escape through the window, as he had planned from the beginning. But a huge explosion that knocked down half a wall prevented it, and made him fall to the ground.

"I'M GONNA KILL YOU! I swear, Greed, that you'll be the first person I kill on purpose! Son of a bitch!"

Several blocks of stone emerged from the floor, and Greed flew through the air, crashing into a cupboard, and breaking all the dishes.

"Edward... Ed... calm down, kid... Look, you're tearing the house apart..."

"I DON'T GIVE A SHIT!"

The broken pieces of porcelain were transmuted into fine needles, which would have pierced the homunculus if he hadn't taken precautions before. Seeing an opportunity, Greed escaped through an open hole in the wall.

"Come back here, you coward! What about the Equivalent Exchange!?" shouted Edward, trying to follow him through the gap.  
The homunculus had already moved away across the garden.

"Don't get so angry, little one. The way I see it, I cummed and you cummed. It was the most equivalent exchange in history. Besides, I'm sorry to tell you that you're nothing special in bed, while I'm an expert lover. So, in a way, you came out winning. Settle on that", and with a jump, the homunculus climbed to the top of a tree, and disappeared into the nearby grove.

Edward tried to chase after him, but he couldn't run much because of his limp, and he lost track of him soon. Defeated, he collapsed on a grass mound, before a pang reminded him that it was better not to sit in his present state.

"Hmmm... I feel like throwing up. And the house ended up... smoky. Al's going to have a heart attack when he sees it. Al... I'd better go find that idiot, before something happens to him."

Al watched the flow of the river, sitting next to the bank in a melancholic attitude.  
Behind him, he heard the sound of footsteps dragging with reluctance. His brother threw himself down on the grass, beside him, and placed his gauntlet on his own head.

"Do me a favor, Al, and crush my head with your hand", he said, whining.

"Brother... I can't do that."

"You're right", he stretched out his arms, transmuted a nearby stone into a mallet, and handed it to Alphonse. "Here, use this."

Al looked at the mallet, decorated with small bas-reliefs of Ed's face, and chuckling softly, he threw it into the river.

"The silly things you say sometimes, brother! And your designs are terrible."

Edward looked up at him quizzically, stood up a little, and rested his head on his lap.

"Aren't you mad at me anymore?"

Al shook his head.

"No, brother. I've been thinking about all this. And it's true I have no right to comment on your private life. I mean, if you like Greed..."

"Uh, Al..."

"... and you have chosen to date him, then fine, it's your decision. Though it would have been more normal for you to date Winry. I don't know, a homunculus? And he seems much older than you..."

"Al, if you'll let me…"

"... But I suppose that love is so unpredictable. Anyway, how are you going to hide it? You can't go to Grandma Pinako's house and say, "Hello, this is my boyfriend Greed, he's a homunculus" ..."

"Al! I don't like Greed, and for God's sake, he's not my boyfriend!"

Alphonse interrupted the thread of his thoughts, and looked at his brother confused.

"You don't like him? But you were... you know... making love?"

"Yes, I know! But I didn't do it because I liked him. I did it because I'm an idiot", he took a deep breath and covered his face with his forearm. "Greed offered me a Philosopher's Stone in exchange for me sleeping with him, and I accepted. I did it for you, Al, so that you could recover your body. However, there was no Stone. Greed played with me and deceived me."

The lights in Al's eyes quivered with emotion. And to think of all the ugly things he had said to him, when his brother only thought of his good! Unable to hold back, Alphonse squeezed him into his arms, crying with regret.

"Oh, brother, how could I know that!? Sorry, sorry, sorry!"

"Ouch!... Okay, Al... Okay, you don't have to squeeze me like that... You're going to choke me!" Al released him at once; sometimes he didn't remember just how strong he was. Once his breath caught, Edward continued, "I also regret much having said you were a hollow armor. It was a stupid thing I said because I was angry. You know I don't really think that... And I'm sorry you had to see that scene. Traumatized like this by your older brother, poor Al!"

"It's alright, we've both seen worse", then a thought disturbed Al's mind, and there was a strange silence between them. Finally, after a few seconds, he dared to ask: "Tell me, brother, is it very difficult?"

"What?"

"Making love with someone you don't love."

Edward closed his eyes, and curled up against his brother's lap, no matter how uncomfortable it was.

"Unfortunately, Al, it's very easy... You know? I've always considered myself an adult. From the day we transmuted mother, I knew I'd never be a child again. And yet today, for the first time in all these years, I've once again felt like a stupid child that any adult can take advantage of. I feel abused. My first time, my first kiss... Did it have to be like this? I guess that's what a sinner like me deserves. But then... why do I feel so bad?"

Alphonse realized that his brother was crying silently. He could see it in the damp droplets that wet the cloth on his lap. Not knowing what to say to comfort him, he stroked his hair gently.

After the Greed incident, Edward wanted more than anything in the world to finalize the lease and leave Dublith, the further the better. But once again, that bastard Colonel Mustang only seemed to exist to make his life impossible. Repeatedly, he ordered him to stay there, with the excuse of investigating bullshit that had little or nothing to do with his position as National Alchemist.  
Edward suspected he was hiding something, perhaps something related to the riots in the East, of which only vague news came. For some reason, the Colonel didn't want them to approach Ishbal. Which meant that Edward's desire to go there doubled. He was even tempted to disobey orders openly, toss his silver watch, and renounce forever being a "dog of the military."  
But when he discussed this possibility with Al, he begged so fervently that he didn't throw away four years of hard work, that he didn't do anything crazy, that Ed ended up yielding. So he gave up, and the days became very long for him.  
The nights also became very long...

For the umpteenth time, Edward stirred in his bed.  
He looked at Al out the corner of his eye; he seemed absorbed in his thoughts. He stirred again to change his posture. He looked at Al again; nothing, he still ignored him. Sometimes he thought that Al got lost in reverie, a kind of substitution for the dreams he couldn't have anymore.  
Edward cleared his throat, coughed, and cleared his throat again. Finally he let it out:

"Hey, Al... I was thinking that... Well, since the Greed incident, we haven't... ahem! You know, those things... at night..."

"Mmm... I know, brother. I just don't feel like it lately. I guess my curiosity is more than satisfied for the moment. After all, I have no body and my desire is quite weak."

"Oh, sure, heh, heh! I was just wondering... if you didn't dare to ask me... Because you can ask me anytime, okay?"

"I know."

"I mean, you don't have to be shy. I don't mind doing it..."

"Of course, brother."

"Maybe you think that after having real sex, I'm not interested in those pastimes anymore, but it's not true..."

"I'll keep that in mind. But seriously, brother, I don't need anything. I'm happy, thank you."

"You mean you haven't had those weird thoughts again?"

"No, I don't think so."

"I see... Hey, Al, what if we invite Winry home again? My automail squeals a lot lately and it needs a repair. I could ask her to come with that short skirt, huh?" and Ed winked at his brother, before realizing how stupid it was if Al couldn't see him. From the other bed came a sigh of impatience:

"Brother, your automail doesn't squeal at all. And you can't ask Winry to come in a miniskirt! That sounds... suspicious."

"Yes, it's true, putting it that way…" Edward fell silent, feeling the disappointment grow inside him. When he finally spoke again, his voice barely made its way through the knot in his throat: "Al, I... do I disgust you? Do you think I'm dirty after what I did with Greed?"

At this, Alphonse immediately turned to face him; an expression of concern shone in his eyes:

"No! Brother, how can you ask me something like that!? You could never disgust me! And least of all for something you did with such a kind intention. You are my brother, and I'll always love you, whatever happens."

"Whatever happens ..." Edward smiled sadly. "Al…"

"Yes?"

"Do you love me?"

"What silly question is that, brother? Of course I love you!"

"In which way?"

"In which way? The way I've always loved you, since we were kids. The way a little brother should love his older brother. In which way, if not?

"Oh... Of course, such absurd things I ask! Forgive me, Al... Good night."

And Edward turned on the bed, facing the wall. For a moment, Alphonse stared at him in the dark, with his back to him and his automail's hand embracing his left shoulder.

"He's so weird lately," he thought, a little worried.

The truth was that a very strange feeling had begun to blossom in Edward's heart. A feeling he didn't dare to acknowledge or define in words. And at the same time, his old wish to restore Al's body was becoming obsessive to an insane point. Solutions that he had never before considered, for being stupid and useless, began to seem plausible to him.  
Besides, it was what had happened to him in bed with Greed, what he had imagined to get away from the situation. But fortunately, his mind had blocked that, out of mercy.  
Or so it seemed.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

The doorbell pulled Edward out the drowsiness he had fallen into, after sitting in his usual armchair. Who could it be at those hours? It was almost 11 at night.  
At first, he tried to get up suddenly. But looking at his right arm and left leg, he remembered that they were no longer there. Irreparable nervous damage, doctors had decreed. No automail would ever work again, since he didn't have enough nerve endings to connect them to. And common prostheses were so useless and uncomfortable, he always ended up throwing them around.  
With a grunt of reluctance, he grabbed the crutch leaning against the armchair and walked to the door as good as he could. It was astounding that after three years, he would still forget from time to time that he needed that crutch for everything. Still, he preferred that nuisance rather than using a wheelchair. Sitting in a chair would be like acknowledging that he had given up.  
At the entrance a young man waited for him: brunette and short-haired, luminous eyes, slender body, and at least a head taller than him. A bag hung from his hand.

"Al! What... what are you doing here so late at night?" he stuttered, once the initial surprise had passed. "And where's Winry?"

"We broke up", smiled Alphonse, somehow sad.

"Bro... Broke up? But... what has..."

"Don't worry, brother. It's been by mutual agreement and everything is fine between us. I love her very much, both as a friend and as a girlfriend. But I love her more as a friend."

"Yes... I love her too... I feel sorry for her..." murmured Ed, his gaze lost somewhere on the floor.

"So, as the apartment was hers, I thought it was time to find my own house. And... well, I thought that for the moment I could stay here a few days, if it's not much trouble... Winry suggested it to me. I hope I'm not too inopportune."

Edward came out of his reverie, as if he hadn't noticed Alphonse until now:

"Inopportune? Oh, no, by no means, Al! This will always be your home, you know. You can always return here, whenever you want. After all, we've been always together, right? Stay here for as long as you want. Unless you bring a handful of cats in that bag..."Alphonse burst out laughing. "Ah, but where are my manners! Come in, come in, Al, don't stand out there. Leave your stuff here", and moving aside with a skip, Edward cleared the path, and Al entered with a smile of gratitude.

His brother's house was... how to define it without being too cruel?... A real disaster. Mountains of alchemy books stacked in corners, clothes (probably dirty) abandoned on the backs of chairs, plates on tables, and even some prosthesis thrown to the floor in a fit of frustration.  
Edward noticed his brother's impression and blushed.

"Sorry for the mess, Al. There's a woman who comes to clean and cook every week, but she's out of town for a few days. And I... well, I don't quite manage household chores on my own. I spend most of my time studying."

Al smiled, moved, and left his bag in the only free space of a table covered on papers with transmutation circles.

"Don't worry! Now that I'm here, I'll take care of the house. At least that way I won't feel like a freeloader, living by his wits."

"Oh, Al!... Thank you", whispered Ed, and he realized he was blushing further.

* * *

They were having a cup of tea, Ed in his favorite armchair and Al in a chair beside him. After an extended conversation about their lives and news since the last time they met, a sudden silence had enveloped the two brothers. For a few minutes the sips of tea were the only sound heard in the room.

"Why did you leave the apartment where Winry and I lived?" asked Al, breaking the silence spell.

Edward opened his eyes, somewhat startled, and hesitated before replying:

"I didn't want to be a nuisance for you two. You were a couple, what did I do in the middle?"

"You were never a nuisance, brother, and you know it. Both Winry and I were delighted to have you at home. Taking care of you was the least we could do after the sacrifice you made to give me back my body. You're in this state because of me. And it hurt me a lot to think that my brother had decided to live alone, like a hermit, depending on the help of a stranger, when we would have done anything for you."

"I'm not an invalid, Al. Just... some things are harder for me than before", muttered Ed, looking away.

Suddenly, he felt Al's hand caressing his, and jerked up.  
Al's skin, so soft and warm. He had gone through hell itself just for a chance to feel that skin again. And get lost in those brown eyes, and see his smile, and touch his hair... Everything, everything was worth it for that chance.  
Without realizing what he was doing, Edward let his gaze wander over his brother's body, until it stopped at his collarbone, which peeped through the open collar of his shirt.

"That stare again", said Alphonse.

"What... what stare are you talking about, Al? I'm not staring in any way."

"Yes, you are. When you lived with us, I discovered you looking at me that way many times. The day you caught me coming out the shower, for example. And when Winry and I kissed. Or did you think I couldn't read it in your eyes?"

Ed withdrew his hand and rubbed his thigh, growing more and more nervous.

"I don't know... I don't know what you're talking about. Maybe... Maybe I was a little jealous of the fact that Winry had chosen you instead of me, nothing more."

Then Alphonse leaned against the back of the chair and folded his arms with a serious visage.

"Don't lie to me, brother. First, Winry didn't choose me. It was you whom she always loved, but you became cold and aloof, and she tired of waiting. That's one of the reasons why we broke up; I was never more than your replacement for her. And secondly, you weren't jealous because of her. She wasn't the one you looked at that way, nor her name the one you sighed in dreams."

The tea cup trembled in Edward's hand so much, that a good part of the liquid fell on his thigh. Alphonse picked up a napkin and attempted to dry him with it.

"N... No... Al... Leave it, I'll clean it myself."

But without listening, Al began to rub his leg in circles to dry the liquid. Ed let out a gasp as he felt those fingers caressing him there, and twisted in the chair as if trying to escape.

"Al, what are you doing!?"

"Nothing in particular, brother. It's just a napkin, does it bother you?" Ed turned beet red and swallowed. Al's fingers crawled a little higher up his inner thigh. "Your body reveals what your mouth doesn't dare to say. Winry realized what you felt even before I did. That's why she suggested that I come here with you. Why don't you confess once and for all, brother? Why don't you confess that you left, because you could no longer control your desire for me?"

Alphonse's caresses reached the groin of his brother, and at that moment, Ed came out of his stupor and rose from the chair abruptly:

"I'm going... I'm going to the kitchen!" he excused himself, and in his haste he forgot completely the crutch and lost his balance.

He would have fallen to the floor if it hadn't been for Al, who jumped up and held him in his arms. Pressing him against his body, Alphonse perceived the fear mixed with desire of his brother. He could feel it in his eyes, in his ragged breath, in the pounding of his heart against his chest, in the more than obvious bulge of his crotch.

"I know what I want, brother. I have known for a long time", whispered Al, pulling his face closer. "What I want now is to kiss you. If you don't want me to do it, tell me now. Because otherwise I won't stop."

Edward didn't say anything. Then Alphonse joined his lips to his brother's. His tongue pushed open aggressively, possessively, traversing every corner of his mouth as if it belonged to him. And his brother surrendered to him, submissive, without resistance against that tongue which penetrated him. For once in his life, giving up seemed more attractive than fighting back.  
Al's strong arms were the only thing that held him up, and he clung to him, desperate in his vulnerability, as if he wanted to melt into the other body. As if he were afraid that, if he let him go, Alphonse would vanish again in front of him.  
When his brother broke the kiss, Edward was almost out of breath. Al's face stared at him from above, with an expression of resolution that left no doubt: now he belonged to him entirely. Edward met his gaze with unfocused eyes, and wrapping his arm around his neck, he whispered:

"Take me to the bedroom, Al. And let's not come out anymore."

Alphonse kissed him again, quick and tender, and took him in his arms. As he climbed the stairs to the bedroom, he was surprised at how light his brother was. It was obvious that without the steel members, his weight would be considerably reduced, but he still suspected that he hadn't been eating well. His poor brother, so lonely, so fragile! If this could repair even half of what he had suffered for him...

Al laid him gently on the bed, then began to undress, straddling his belly. Edward couldn't restrain himself and stroked with his only hand every inch of skin that his brother discovered before him. Al's body was perfect, all of it. The result of his last and most sublime transmutation. The act of alchemy that put an end to his ability to make a circle ever again. And what for, after that? What for, if he had already achieved perfection?  
However, when his turn came and Alphonse began to take off his clothes, Ed felt self-conscious. His brother was going to be the first person to see him naked after he lost his mechanical limbs for good. Apart, of course, from the doctors who performed so many painful tests on him, only to declare that everything was useless.  
Edward cowered, embarrassed under his brother's scrutiny, once he left him totally naked.

"Al... I... don't you mind that I'm a cripple?"

Alphonse lay down on him and placed a strand of hair behind his ear, smiling with infinite affection.

"Did you mind that I was an armor? Did you love me less for that?"

"Of course not."

"Then how could I mind a trifle like this? For me you are the most beautiful thing in this world, brother."

And intertwining with each other in a kiss and a hug, they rolled on their side until coming face to face. Each part of one's body seemed made exclusively to fit into the corresponding part of the other. Their tongues, their ribs, their navels, their members rubbing sweetly against each other. Edward lifted what remained of his left leg, and passed it over his brother's hips, so that Al's glans grazed his hole.

"You want me to…?"

Ed nodded. And he took out a bottle of lube from the drawer of his bedside table. Alphonse had enough tact not to ask why he kept this by his bed.

His member slid into him without difficulty, without pain. The member of Al, his brother Al. Inside him, so warm, so real.

"Alphonse...", sighed Ed. "All my life... I think all my life has been but a preparation for this moment, that only makes sense now... Why now, mutilated, without arm, without leg, why now do I feel complete for the first time?"

"Brother..." moaned Al, kissing his neck. And his hips began to move in and out, very slowly.

"Al, oh Al!... I love you... Alphonse... Alphonse..."

* * *

"Alphonse!"

His brother's name still slipped between his lips the moment Ed woke. Alarmed, he looked at his right arm and touched his left leg, to see with relief that the automail were still there. It had just been a dream.  
But his relief soon turned to sadness as he discovered that what he was embracing so tightly, was not Al's human body but only a pillow.  
It had just been a dream, after all.  
And he felt his heart sinking into a dark pit.  
When Alphonse opened the bedroom door, Ed was still wiping away his tears.

"Did you call me, brother? I think I heard my name."

Ed turned on the bed to look at him. Al in the armor. Of course.

"Don't worry, it's nothing. I must have called you in my dreams."

"But you're crying. Was it a sad dream?"

"It was... sad, and happy at the same time. I can't explain it."

He nodded without asking more; he sensed that his brother didn't want to talk about it.

"I'll make you breakfast, what do you think!?" he said then, shifting the conversation to more cheerful subjects. Ed thanked him, smiling weakly, and Al left the room, very glad to do something for his brother.

With no strenght to get out of bed, Edward pondered on what he had just dreamed, while Al's humming and the sound of the pan frying something reached him from the kitchen. Why had he been much happier in his dream, despite being an invalid, than upon awakening to reality? Was that what he really wanted, what he really wanted with his brother Al? The things they had done so far were no more than a simple game, an experiment to help Alphonse. He could only satisfy himself, at least a little, through Edward, and only for this reason had he entered his bed the first time. It might have been a bit unusual, because of the special situation Al was in, but it wasn't so strange. During his childhood in Riesenburg, Ed had been aware that many boys, of his age and especially older, would meet from time to time behind the barn to "play with their things." Sometimes some of them were cousins, or even brothers, and sometimes they also touched each other. Ed knew this, but he never had the slightest interest in taking part in those games, or in stoning dogs, to put the case. Alchemy had taken up all his spare time. Of course, as they got older, those kids abandoned those experiments, started dating girls, and now led perfectly normal lives. Some were about to get married, even.  
He believed that what he did with Al was something like that, a temporary arrangement until he regained his body. But now he understood that it had become something much more sinister. That, in fact, he didn't want Al to get a girlfriend and form a family. That _he_ wanted to be that "girlfriend", that _he_ wanted to be that family. That was what he wanted.  
And even though deep in his heart he had known this for a long time, only now the truth slapped his face, so directly that he could no longer ignore it.

Alphonse soon realized that something had changed in Ed. It wasn't easy to define. It was nothing he had said, or any change in his behavior. It was rather what he silenced, what he omitted. Yes, Ed seemed absent. And when he stared at Alphonse, lost in thought, he felt his brother didn't really look at him. That he was trying to look through his armor, to see something that was beyond, perhaps inside, or perhaps behind him, or nowhere. But what he was looking for, Alphonse didn't know.

He got a clue, however, one night when he was lost in his daydreams. The green meadows of Riesenburg opened before him like a sea of rolling hills. And three little children rolled across them: Edward, Winry and himself, covered with grass and earth. He could feel the damp air of the sunset, the caress of the leaves on his skin, the smell of the meadows. All those feelings, now almost forgotten. Then a light was lit in a distant window, and the three of them ran in the twilight to return home. It was dinner time.  
Suddenly, something interrupted Al's happy fantasy. Not something, but someone who had slipped beneath his sheets. He felt the weight of a body straddling his stomach. And when he opened his eyes, he found his brother in front of him, half-naked and with a feverish look.

"Al, did you call me?"

"No…"

"Ah, I thought you had."

"No, brother, I'm quite sure I didn't call you."

Al supposed that his brother would get up then and return to his bed. But instead, Ed stayed there, swinging his body back and forth with visible nervousness.

"Well, even if you didn't call me, since I'm here... I thought that I could... well, show you something new", Al narrowed his eyes suspiciously, to which Ed replied with a forced smile and an intensification of his sway. "You know, there are certain things we haven't done yet... Or rather, you haven't done yet _to me_. And maybe you're curious, aren't you?" Edward stroked his brother's fingers suggestively, and then, with obvious embarrassment added, "Or, if you don't like it that way, I could... ahem... temporarily transmute your armor to add... _something_."

"What are you trying to say, brother?"

Edward stopped his swing, and looked at him with self-pity.

"Alphonse, for the life of me, don't make me say it in words! Look, if you want I'll say I'm a puny bean who is easy to step on without seeing it. If you want I'll say that milk is fundamental in a healthy diet, and that I will stay small forever for not drinking it. If you want, I'll admit that Colonel Mustang is a great alchemist and a better soldier, that I make him rage because I secretly admire him, and that I think he'll be an excellent Führer. I'll say anything!... But don't make me explain _this_ to you."

An idea began to light up in Alphonse's mind as he tied loose ends. His brother sitting in that position, legs spread, his swing back and forth, the play with his fingers, the sweat falling down his forehead, his red face as he bit his lower lip. Alphonse's eyes widened.

"Brother!" he exclaimed, picking him up and leaving him at his side, a little apart. "I don't want to do that!"

"But why not, Al? It's not so different from the other things. What's it to you?" insisted Edward, putting his arm around him.

"I know, but I'm still not interested. I find it a bit... frightening."

"Frightening? Come on, Al, don't be a fool."

"Well, maybe I want to be a fool! Anyway, I don't need this. Thanks for your concern, but I don't need it."

Edward snorted impatiently, and pressed even harder against him.

"I know you don't need it, but couldn't you do it for me?"

"Bu... But brother, why would you want to...? I mean, you have a normal body, you don't need my help to feel anything", stammered Al, trying to move away from his heated brother. Ed lowered his head, distressed.

"You still don't get it, Al? What I feel for you?" Alphonse didn't know what to say, didn't know what to think.

Ed's eyes reflected the light coming through the window, with an almost desperate shine. And again they seemed to pierce him, looking for something that wasn't there. Then, as if ashamed of what his gaze revealed, Edward lay on his brother, wrapping his arms and legs around him, and rubbing himself against him.

"Come on, Al, come on, do it for me! It costs you nothing. I'm too horny to go to sleep. Are you going to leave me with this hard-on?"

Alphonse could feel the warmth radiating from his crotch, that not even the contact with metal seemed to cool. And his mouth left breath circles where he kissed him. His brother's attempt to drag his hand under his underpants was the last straw. With a shove, Al made him roll to the other end of the bed.

"I said I don't want, and I don't want! Brother, I'm sorry, but it scares me. _You_ scare me right now."

Edward held his breath. Alphonse was scared of him? What was he doing, molesting his little brother like that? That wasn't love, it was lust of the worst kind!

"Al, I'm so sorry! I don't know what happens with me. Lately I've been very confused", he lamented, shrinking with shame. Al calmed him with a caress in his hair.

"Don't worry, brother. I'm not angry. And I'm sorry I was so harsh", Edward felt the weight of the gauntlet on his metallic shoulder. "Do you want to sleep here tonight? Maybe that will comfort you."

But Edward shook his head and rose from his bed.

"No, forget it, Al, it would be worse. I haven't behaved like a good big brother, but I won't bother you again. I promise", and then, going out towards the bathroom, he whispered, "I... I'll try not to make noise..."

Alphonse wished he had ears so he could cover them. That way, he wouldn't have heard the sound of a transmutation, followed by the obscene noise of two wet things, one sliding into the other.  
Nor that sob that sounded like his name.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

"Aaaaargh!" grumbled Greed, lying face down on the couch of his refuge, a glass of whiskey abandoned in his hand.

"You've been like that all afternoon. Sighing like a dying man! Can you tell what's wrong, Mr. Greed?" interrupted Martel at last, weary of the continuous whining.

"I feel empty. I feel like I'm missing something. Do you imagine what that means for someone like me?"

The serpent woman shrugged and glanced at her companions. They indicated with gestures that they also had no idea about what happened to the homunculus.

"And could you explain to us what's the reason for such sudden emptiness?"

Greed sipped the whiskey, not bothering to turn his head to his interlocutor.

"You see, my faithful followers, what happens is that I recently fucked a boy. At first I thought that everything had turned out just fine, however..."

"One moment, did Mr. Greed just say that he fucked a boy?" whispered Bido, leaning toward Dolcetto.

"Yes, that's what he said, Bido."

"...well, I suppose I expected something different from him. That he adored me or followed me or something..."

"Has Mr. Greed fucked-a-boy?"

"Yes, Bido, yes!"

"... that is, after all I did for him, all the pleasure I gave him, all I taught him..."

"And who was that boy?" continued Bido, still not coming out of his deep stupor.

"Edward Elric, that shrimp alchemist with delusions of grandeur", explained the homunculus, with an indifferent gesture of his hand, "When I caught him, he was just a virgin boy who would jerk off to death. But when I left him, he could take cocks like a pro already..."

"I still can't believe that Mr. Greed fucked a boy."

"Will you shut up, Bido!? Every time you say it, it sounds worse!" groaned Martel, and motioned the homunculus to continue:

"... Anyway, I expected to receive his gratitude and admiration. But instead, I received nothing but scorn and hatred. So much work for nothing! That's why I feel empty right now."

Martel sighed, suspecting that the task of comforting the boss had fallen upon her. She pushed Greed aside, and sat down beside him on the couch.

"There's something here that doesn't fit in the picture. Are you saying that the Elric boy offered himself like that, without further ado, just because he wanted to have sex with a homunculus? The truth is that Edward didn't strike me as a horny teenager, precisely."

Greed scratched his head with an apologetic smile.

"Yeah, about that... Let's just say it wasn't exactly like this. He offered himself to me because I had offered him something in return. Something like the Philosopher's Stone."

The four chimeras opened their eyes in surprise, and the usually impassive expression of Martel became one of outrage.

"Greed! Why did you promise him something like that if you didn't have it!? Taking advantage of that boy... It's very low, even for you."

"Hey! What happened to the "Mr. Greed " thing?"

"You don't seem to me a "mister" right now. What you seem is an unscrupulous pederast who stole innocence from a poor little boy, playing with his hopes meanwhile. Even we must have certain standards, Greed!"

The homunculus rolled his eyes, and just took another sip of his whiskey.

"Bah, you're a woman and you don't understand! You sure do support me, don't you, lads?" he said, turning to the other chimeras. They looked at each other uncomfortably; no one wanted to answer that question, "Besides, that boy wasn't innocent. I was spying on him for a while, and I saw with my own eyes how he allowed his younger brother to masturbate him."

There was a general commotion among those present, and Bido put his hands on his head.  
Martel refused to believe that. Al, that naive, sweet boy? When she met him, a special sympathy for him had awakened in her cold reptile heart. Perhaps the last fragment of a maternal instinct she never developed. She couldn't imagine him doing that to his brother, and less in his present state.  
But Greed claimed to have seen it with his own eyes. And if one thing could be said in favor of the homunculus, was that he was always honest with his henchmen.

"Okay, okay, let's just assume the boys decided to play doctors!" admitted the chimera, "Even then, you shouldn't have gotten in the middle. Why did you care what the Elrics did? Those kids had a very hard life, they only have each other, they are alone in the world... Are you really surprised they ended up like this? What is amazing is that they aren't doing anything worse. And on top of that you come, deceive the eldest to screw him, and still want him to thank you. Seriously, Greed, what the hell is wrong with you?"

The homunculus frowned, and for a moment simply stirred his whiskey, as if looking for something very important in the bottom of the glass.

"I don't know. I fucked him really well. You should have heard him moan, the dirty bitch. And how he opened when I fingered him", Bido covered his ears, red with embarrassment, and began to hum for himself. There were things in this world that he just didn't want to know, call him ignorant, if necessary! Greed continued, but this time as if lost in reverie: "No one will ever give that boy what I gave him that day. Yes, because that boy is going to die young. I've seen it in his eyes: the look of the damned, the losers. I know that look very well. The only thing I want now is what belongs to me. I want him to thank me for the favor I gave him. Or if he insists on seeing only the bad part, then I want his forgiveness."

And Greed finished his whiskey in one gulp, leaving the glass on a little table with a thud. His chimeras had rarely seen him in such a dark mood. Although they suspected there was something more disturbing their boss' mind. Something that had been gnawing at him for some time now, and that had nothing to do with Edward Elric. Martel shook her head, eyes fixed on a spot on the floor.

"There are things you can't have, Greed. Things you'll never have. Get used to it."

Then the sparkle of an idea flashed for a second in the homunculus'pupils. And all of a sudden, he jumped to his feet.

"You think so, huh? Well, your boss is going to show you that there's nothing in this world that he can't get! You'll see!" and jumping over the sofa, he headed for the refuge's exit. But before he left, he still turned toward them to announce triumphantly, "Very soon, lads, you'll be witness to something totally unheard of. The first and last selfless act of Greed the Avaricious!"

And having said this, the homunculus ran out the room, without the chimeras having the faintest idea of what he was plotting.

"He just loves melodrama so much, the egocentric dude!" groaned Roa. Everyone agreed on this point.

The clatter of the tram as it passed over a bump, took Edward out the drowsiness in which he had fallen.  
Every day the same. Presenting himself early in the morning in Dublith's detachment to report. The report, of course, was always the same: "No news." Mustang only forced him to do it in order to keep him under control, and make sure he was still in town, that was certain. Only once did he dare to stay in bed and not going to report, but the telephone scolding he had to endure later, dissuaded him from doing it again. Rather than listening to that bastard's sarcastic and overbearing voice, he preferred to take the tram ride.  
Edward stared distracted at Dublith's houses, passing before him swiftly, then halting when he reached a stop. A man sat next to him, in the last row of the car, but Ed hardly noticed. Out the corner of his eye, he saw only that he wore a black trenchcoat with the collar raised, so it covered half of his face. The rest was also hidden by a black hat and dark glasses. Ed turned to the window, uninterested.

"How are you, blondie?"

The voice. That damn voice. Ed jumped on the seat, and pressed himself against the windowpane, the further from the man, the better. The stranger lowered his glasses slightly to meet him with a violet glance. And over the raincoat's collar peeped out a sharp-toothed smile.

"Greed! Following me again? What the fuck do you want from me now!? I gave you all I had, get lost once and for all!" the alchemist couldn't hide how tense he was, and a cold sweat began to form on his forehead, "Look, I don't want to make a scene in the tram, so don't try anything weird."

The homunculus laughed, but remained still in his seat.

"Easy, boy. I come in peace. I'm not going to molest you or anything. Unless you want... Do you want?"

Edward folded his arms and frowned.

"You're quite brazen, sitting next to me as if nothing, after what you did to me. I assure you that, if I haven't made you explode with alchemy yet, it's because there are too many people around."

"Little boy, I..."

"Who're you calling a dwarf the size of a microbe that can be eaten by an ant!?" an old lady turned toward them, with a "shh" to lower their voice.

"All right, all right, Ed, don't get so worked up!" Greed hastened to rectify, before the boy forgot his promise not to blow him up with alchemy, "I know you're hurt after what I did to you."

"Hurt is nothing! I couldn't sit in three days..."

The homunculus had to make great efforts not to burst out laughing at this. But in the end he restrained himself; he didn't want to infuriate Edward even more.

"Look, Ed, I wasn't satisfied after what happened either. I've been feeling pretty bad these days."

Edward raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

"Huh? I didn't know homunculi had such a thing as a conscience", he snarled sarcastically. Greed rolled his eyes and made a dismissive gesture with his hand.

"Nothing like that! Don't project those obscene human feelings into me. But it's true I don't feel comfortable knowing that you hate me. What I wanted was your gratitude and loyalty, as my chimeras have for me. That's why I'm here. I want you to forgive me and thank me."

The boy's eyes widened with outrage. It wasn't possible that the homunculus was really asking for this. Just to what extent was he egocentric?

"I won't forgive you, Greed. Never. You don't know what it's like to be on the verge of getting everything you've ever wanted, and that at the last moment they steal all your hopes. That everything turns to smoke. I've had too many disappointments in this life. And although I don't expect forgiveness from anyone, I don't forgive anything either", and Edward turned away, staring at the street with melancholy. Why had the day become so gray if a moment ago it was sunny? The trees, the facades, everything appeared as faded.

"I knew you wouldn't forgive me like that. But what if I offered you something in exchange for nothing?"

"Things don't work that way. The law of Equivalent Exchange governs this world, Greed. Don't forget it."

"That's the theory. But I could... I don't know, give you free information. The information would be yours the moment you heard it, and no one could take it away, right?" Edward shrugged, still not looking at him, "Tell me, what's created when a human transmutation fails?"

"A homunculus."

"And what did you give in exchange for the creation of that homunculus?"

"Al's body. My left leg... Indirectly, my right arm too."

"Aha. So... what would you get in return for handing over a homunculus?"

Ed turned to him very slowly. A kind of tiredness and restrained rage danced in his golden eyes.

"I've already pondered about it, don't think that's new information. Anyway, I can't do that. Let's say my reserve of homunculi willing to transmute themselves is empty."

"Empty? And what's this that you have here, in front of you?" said Greed, pointing at his whole body. Ed blinked several times, not believing what he heard.

"And why the hell would you give yourself up for that? You know you'd disappear."

The homunculus shrugged, and resting his head on the back, closed his eyes and lit a cigarette. The old lady coughed a couple of times, dropping a hint that Greed ignored.

"Maybe I don't mind so much disappearing. You see, boy, there are certain people who chase me, and I know they'll eventually find me. The fate that awaits me in their hands is far worse than disappearing in a transmutation. Maybe... it wouldn't be so bad to return. There from where I was taken one day..."

There was a note of sadness in his voice that Edward hadn't heard before. Like a far-off yearning, the echo of a past more distant than he could conceive. To his surprise, he found himself pitying the homunculus.

"But I haven't been quite honest in saying that I didn't expect anything in return ...", continued Greed, letting out a thick puff of smoke that went straight into the lady's bun, "If the transmutation works and your brother recovers his body, his armor will be free. I would like (and this is just a wish, not a condition for the deal) that you fix me on it, once I lose my body. It would be very convenient for me."

"I don't know if that's possible. Homunculi have no soul."

"That's very prejudiced of you, lad! Generalizing like this on the homunculi without knowing them all... At least you could try."

"I don't promise anything!" said the alchemist, leaning his head on his hand as he thought about the proposal, and weighed the pros and cons, "And you're not promising me anything either. How do I know you won't back out at the last moment?"

"You don't know. But anyway, if that were the case, you wouldn't lose anything. Yes, it's true, you'd have to wait for another opportunity to use a homunculus, but you'd have the job done. The research, the transmutation circle, the system... I can give you bibliography that will be very useful. I got it from my creator's library", the homunculus reached into the inner pocket of his trenchcoat, and handed him a paper with a list of books, "The information is yours, and my possible cooperation. Now do what you want with it."

Edward read the book titles annotated there, with a thoughtful expression. None of them was familiar to him, and he suspected they wouldn't be easy to get. Judging by the archaic language and the names of the authors, he was almost certain they were quite old. The boy raised his eyes to the homunculus, and the latter gave him a smile in which, for once, there was no trace of malice.

"Really, Greed, why are you doing this?"

"I've already told you! I just want you to forgive me and thank me. It's what I feel I lack. My chimeras believe I'd never get it, and I want to prove them wrong. Do you forgive me then?"

Edward rubbed his temple, sighing reluctantly.

"I don't know... You kidnapped my brother. And you tried to rape me."

"I _tried_. That word is the key. I tried, but I didn't do it. And a man is judged by his actions, isn't he?"

"I suppose so... After all, my intention of resurrecting our mother was good. But my actions have brought nothing but suffering to all those around us. The same thing happened with Nina... Good intentions mean nothing. It's by my actions for which I'll be judged."

Seeing him so downhearted, Greed approached him cautiously and dared to put a lock behind his ear, caressing his cheek as if by accident. Edward didn't flinch, absorbed in his thoughts.

"A boy so cute shouldn't be always so sad", and leaning over, he whispered softly, "You know that if you ever feel alone you can come to me, don't you? And we'll do whatever you want."

"No, Greed, no! I don't want you to fuck me again, once was enough!"

Ed raised his voice more than enough, and the old woman turned to them again, with a scandalized face. The alchemist merely smiled at her nervously, his cheeks burning. The lady shook her head and looked forward, muttering something about "children these days."

"Come on, boy, don't be so negative! Admit that some of the things I did pleased you. That day I counted all the metal-hard members of your body, and the result was three, not two."

Edward felt himself blushing even more, and rubbing his thighs, he turned to the window.

"Well... er... yes... Some things... weren't bad at all", he murmured, with a naughty smile. Greed didn't miss the detail that he had just crossed his legs.

"Then you forgive me?"

"Mmm... okay, damn, okay! I forgive you temporarily, for the moment. You'll have my definitive forgiveness if the transmutation goes ahead, and you come that day to participate in it."

"I'll settle for that", the tram slowed and stopped on a tree-lined avenue. "Gee, this is my stop! Goodbye, blondie, we'll see each other the day of the transmutation. Let me take at least a parting keepsake."

And throwing the cigarette on the floor, Greed lunged at him and kissed him passionately. Edward struggled against the windowpane, not knowing how to react against the tongue that had entered his esophagus so suddenly. When the homunculus set him free, the alchemist stirred angrily, wiping saliva from his lips and uttering a thousand curses:

"Greed, son of a bitch, how dare you...!? ... Aaaargh, disgusting!... I'll kill you, I swear I'll kill you!"

But as he looked around, Edward discovered that Greed had vanished again, with that ability to disappear at the precise moment. The lady in front, however, had her indignant eyes fixed on him:

"Boy, stop fussing and swearing! Just look!, how rude...", and noticing the cigarette butt, she added, "And don't smoke on public transport!"

Ed dropped into the seat, and curled up, sulking. To make matters worse, when he looked at the street, he realized he had left his stop behind at least five minutes ago, so distracted he was with the conversation.

 _Damn Greed! I'll be late for the report because of him_.

At first he was going to get off at the next stop and go back down the road. But then, looking down, he realized that the bulge of his crotch was too visible with those tight leather pants. He would still have to wait a little longer before getting off the tram.

 _Damn Greed!_


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Alphonse sat on the front door stairs to gaze at the street and passers-by. Since a few days ago the house seemed so large, empty and dull to him, that he didn't want to be inside.  
It had all started two weeks ago, the day Ed returned with that thoughtful expression and hiding that little paper in his hand. At first it had been the phone calls behind closed doors. Although Al wasn't able to understand what his brother half-whispered in the handset, he realized that he was calling many different numbers, and not a single interlocutor. When he asked him about it, out of sheer curiosity, Ed just mumbled: "Work stuff" and settled the issue.  
There were also his numerous outings, always without him. On one occasion, he didn't even come at lunch time. And Al waited in vain in front of a plate of soup that grew cold, and which he couldn't enjoy.  
Although all that happened before the day in which Alphonse almost had a nervous breakdown.  
Edward went out in the morning to report, as usual. But he didn't come back at all. Not for lunch, not in the afternoon, not even for dinner. Al turned crazy phoning as many people as he thought could know something. In the Dublith detachment they had seen him in the morning, but they had no news of him thereafter. The teacher knew nothing. In Central they knew nothing. Winry knew nothing. Not even the Colonel knew anything.  
If he had possessed a heart, Al was sure it would be coming out of his chest at that moment. What if something had happened to him? What if he had been kidnapped and was now tied up in some dark basement, surrounded by thugs? As much as he was a National Alchemist, that didn't mean he was untouchable. What if he had met Scar!?  
It was three o'clock in the morning, and Alphonse was torn between warning the military or going out to find him himself, even though he didn't know where to begin, when Ed returned home. He arrived tired and sleepy, as if coming from a long train ride, and under his arm was a bulky package. Books, maybe. Al didn't know whether to hug him, or give him a cuff for worrying him so much. In the end he did both.  
However, he failed again at coaxing his brother to speak about this mysterious journey. "Classified Information".

After this horrible day, Ed began to lock himself in the study for hours, surrounded by strange books and diagrams. And Al barely saw him at all. That's why he preferred to sit at the front door, so at least he could feel the presence of people who looked at him puzzled as they passed by.  
A meow brought him out of his melancholy thoughts. Looking down, he spotted a bluish kitten rubbing against his leg.

"Hey, hello, little friend! Do you feel lonely too?" he said, stroking its head; a gleam of joy had appeared in the little lights of his helmet.

Alphonse liked cats, that was an undeniable fact. Just as it was also a fact that cats liked Alphonse. These animals didn't care about his appearance at all, they had a special ability, a sixth sense, to ignore his armor and see only what was inside. And what they saw inside was a boy who liked cats.  
This one, in particular, didn't stop mewing and looking at Al with big, pitiful eyes.

"Poor thing, I think you're hungry. I'll go to the kitchen to fetch something for you."

What he found in the kitchen was the stew he had cooked for his brother three hours earlier, still untouched. It was clear that Ed wasn't going to eat today either, with so much work as he had. Al sighed with resignation and took the dish out. If his brother wanted to starve himself, at least the kitten would appreciate his food.

The animal licked its lips in delight after finishing the last piece of meat, and Al took it in his arms.

"I'm worried about my brother, you know? Lately he has locked himself with those mysterious books, with those transmutation circles I had never seen before. And he doesn't tell me anything. Whenever we studied alchemy, we would do it together. Why doesn't he want me to help him? Doesn't he trust me?" the cat let out a purr of understanding, and curled up to sleep in his lap. "I have to trust him, because he's my big brother and always wants the best for us. But this time I'm afraid he's getting into something dangerous. Maybe it's true, maybe it's a secret military issue and he can't tell me, but still... I don't know, we've always shared everything. It's almost as if we shared a body... "Al blushed metaphorically at the memories that brought this thought. "Well, there are things I can't tell you because you're such a young kitten. But my brother and I love each other deeply, and it hurts to see him like this. Though actually... I barely see him. Neither at lunchtime, nor dinner, nor bedtime. He goes to bed so late, and gets up exhausted. I know because I don't really sleep. Not like you, you're not even listening to me, sleepyhead!"

The cat just moved one ear, as if to say that yes, he was listening. The sun was setting on the horizon, and Al decided it was time to enter and start ironing Ed's shirts. Otherwise, the next day he would show up at the detachment in a mess, because he hadn't even time to take care of his clothes.  
But when Al opened the door, he discovered that the cat was still following him, and he didn't seem to have any intention of leaving.

"Oh! Do you want to come with me? Don't you have a home or a family?" the cat tried to squeeze between his legs. "No, you can't go in! It's not that I don't want to, but my brother will throw a fit if he sees you", the little kitten let out a meow that would have melted even an ice floe. "Don't look at me like that, you won't convince me", another meow, accompanied by round and bright eyes, and a head rub against his calf.

Al let out a sigh. He was a strong boy: he could face thieves, murderers like Barry and Scar, chimeras, homunculi, and even his brother's wrath. What he couldn't face was a pleading kitten. He took a quick look around; the coast was clear.

"All right, all right, you can stay! I'll find you some little room in the house where my brother never goes in. After all, he almost doesn't leave his study, so he won't even notice... The broom closet, I'm sure he hasn't set a foot there in his whole life."

Edward rubbed his tired, red eyes. The light of the study wasn't particularly good, and after so many hours reading and drawing diagrams, objects' outlines began to blur before him. Around the table, and even on the floor, scattered dozens of papers covered with furious notes, erasures, and blots; imperfect tests of a system that was increasingly approaching its ideal form.  
At that time he was working on a new circle of transmutation. A five point polygon to represent the human body: head, right arm, left arm, right leg, left leg. Basic, simple and effective, there was no doubt about this. However, some of the marginal annotations still resisted him.

 _The Flamel crosses around the upper left corner are correct. Fixing of the volatile, it has to work... Perhaps adding more symbols of fire and air, ascending elements..._

And Ed drew some triangles in strategic points of the circle, some of them simple, and others crossed by a horizontal line. He then lowered his jacket and examined the marks on his left arm again.  
A fundamental truth had assailed him from the first days he began to work on that plan: Greed wasn't the homunculus his brother and he had created in return of their bodies, and therefore there was no equivalent exchange. Of course, he could say goodbye to recovering his arm and leg, though that was irrelevant if he could get Al back.  
But it wasn't just that. The Gate would demand something more. A kind of compensation for not offering it the right homunculus.  
The marker line that signaled the price wasn't enough for Ed yet, and with resignation, he drew another one a few centimeters higher. The first mark had been at the height of his elbow, but after numerous corrections, it already reached the lower part of his shoulder.

"At this point I could still have a new automail... Winry, I'm going to become your best customer if I continue like this, although I know you'll throw a wrench at my head when you see me."

The sound of someone knocking on the door took him out of his reverie with a start. Quickly, he covered his arm with the jacket and hid some of the most compromising diagrams and books. Al's voice came to him twice muffled, through the metal and the wood of the door:

"Brother, dinner is ready. I cooked fish and you should eat it before it gets cold."

"Yes, I'm going. Wait a little until I finish today's work."

For a second, Edward feared that his brother would enter the study and discover that mess. Normally, he left the room locked whenever he came out, and Al rarely peered through the door. That time wasn't the exception either, and with a sigh, the younger brother went to the kitchen, dragging his heavy feet.  
An hour later, the fish had gone cold and soft.

"He's going to sleep without dining again! Idiot brother... I hope he stays the size of a bean for good, since he doesn't feed properly. Well, Roy at least will eat well tonight."

Al had called the cat "Roy." It didn't matter to him that this was the name of a respectable and powerful army colonel, of the famous Flame Alchemist. Alphonse had always the deep and immovable conviction that Roy was a cat's name, and nothing and no one would make him change his mind.

He was already in bed when he heard his brother assaulting the kitchen, probably to put in his mouth any miserable substitute of a dinner. Shortly afterwards, Ed entered the bedroom and slumped face down on the mattress, not undressing at all.  
Al had noticed that for some time now, Edward had begun to sleep dressed, just taking his boots off. In fact, if he stopped to think about it, he hadn't seen him naked for quite a while. And this was strange, for his brother never had any trouble walking before him in his birthday suit. However, Alphonse didn't give much importance to this fact. Perhaps his brother ended the day so exhausted that he didn't have the strength to remove his clothes. Maybe it was just a false impression of his. Maybe Al was starting to miss that body. Maybe he was thinking too much about his brother's nakedness...

Three days later, Alphonse was rummaging in the fridge to feed Roy, when an insistent mew urged him to search faster:

"Yes, I'm coming, Roy, I'm coming! I thought there were some cans of tuna, I'll have to buy more…" Al went through the pantry, throwing several packages and jars on the counter. It was then that it dawned on him, and he looked down. The cat stared back at him with innocent eyes. The cat... In the kitchen ... "Ah, but what are you doing here!? Have you escaped from your room? But how!? If my brother comes out and finds you here, he'll kill us both", Roy let out a plaintive meow. "It's a joke, I didn't mean he would really kill us but... You know. He will be furious. Look, I found a can of tuna! Come, Roy, back to your room for dinner. And don't run away again! I know it's boring, but for now you must stay hidden. I don't know how to explain it to my brother yet."

The boy took the animal in his powerful arms, careful not to hurt him, and returned it to its refuge, along with the tuna. It was already dark outside, and the frustrated snort of his brother reached him from the study.  
With a certain unfounded fear, Alphonse peered into the room. Edward was bent over the table, scratching his head and tapping the board with his pencil. The sandwich he had left next to him in the afternoon, in a last attempt to make him eat, showed just a couple of bites. And the whole study looked like it hadn't been cleaned and ventilated in a century. There would be no wonder if the spiders had already nested in some corner.  
Alphonse felt the anger boiling inside him, and he slammed the door wide open.

"Brother, right now I'm glad I don't have a nose, because I'm sure this place stinks!"

Edward turned to him very slowly, with some rings under his eyes that would have frightened a living dead.

"Al, stop talking nonsense. It smells of nothing here."

"Yeah, right! How long has it been since you bathed?"

"Humm... three days? No, four or five... One week, what do I know, Al!" groaned Ed, dismissing the matter.

"You're a pig! Look at your hair, all greasy. What would happen if Winry came to visit and saw you like that, huh?"

Ed shrugged.

"Psst! She wouldn't say anything. She spends half her life covered in automail grease. Besides, she's not coming. I don't have time to deal with her right now."

Alphonse put his hands on his hips, recriminating.

"Really? Well, maybe I'll call her one of these days. Since you've disappeared, at least I'd have someone to talk to. As for you, you're going to bathe right now, brother!"

And Al approached him with resolution. Edward covered the diagrams quickly, and tried to hide his nervousness without much success.

"It's not necessary, Al. You don't have to come in... I swear I'll bathe when I finish!"

"Not when you finish. Now!" and taking advantage of his greater stature and strength, Alphonse lifted his brother in the air and held him under his arm, then left towards the bathroom.

"Al, what the hell are you doing! Take me down right now! This is humiliating... Al, I'm your older brother!" but Alphonse ignored his curses and kicking, bolted the door, and placed him next to the bath.

Right after, he turned on the hot water tap and began to undress him without second thoughts. Edward was too stunned to resist; when his little brother was in a stubborn mood, he was TRULY stubborn.  
It was when he took his jacket off, that Al discovered the marks on his left arm.

"What does this mean, brother? Have you been hiding it from me all this time?"

"It's nothing, Al, forget it! Just a few silly drawings I did because of boredom, in those times that the mind goes blank. You know... ", explained Ed with a forced smile, covering the marks with his hand in a reflex action.

Alphonse narrowed his eyes, not believing him. However, he decided that it would be best to investigate that later, and focus on the bath for the moment. He finished undressing Edward and forced him into the tub, while he took a sponge and soap.

"But... are you going to bathe me, Al!? This is quite embarrassing...", Ed blushed, once he understood his intentions.

"Pst! Don't be so prudish now, as if I hadn't seen all that there's to see already. I'm going to bathe you, because if I leave you alone, you'd dare to escape and go back to your mysterious studies", and in a slightly sweeter tone, he added, "Besides... I want to spend some time with my brother, what's wrong with that? Lately you've kept me quite away."

Edward shrugged and resigned to his fate. The hot water, along with the soap perfumes, began to work their spell on him. And he felt all tension gradually leaving his muscles, and a peace he hadn't known for a long time flowed through him, from his heart to his fingertips. With a murmur of satisfaction, he let himself slide down the bath until he was completely lying down, his head resting on the edge. Al's fingers rubbed his hair with a delicacy that no one would believe him capable of, the same delicacy that would make a cat purr, and Ed himself, if he continued like that.  
As he poured some more shampoo, Alphonse paused for a moment to look at him. A pink blush colored his usually pale skin, his chest rising and falling in the midst of a calm breath, and beneath his navel the droplets of water gleamed on the blond fuzz, that ran in a straight line until it was lost in the foam between his legs. Without realizing it, Al became absorbed in admiring him. In particular he was struck by the rosy nipples, which had grown more erect than usual, perhaps because the water was beginning to cool.

 _Hee, hee, hee! How cute...,_ he laughed to himself.

Ed opened his eyes and looked at him from below, surprised that it took so long for his brother to apply some shampoo.

"What? What are you looking at, Al?"

"Your... Your little titties, brother", he snapped, with a nervous giggle.

"My little titties!? I don't have titties, you big idiot! They're nipples."

No matter what he said. Alphonse was overcome with chuckle and couldn't stop.

"I wonder what will happen if I strike this button", he said, pressing one of his nipples with his finger. Ed winced.

"Don't play with that, Al! Are you dumb?"

"Hee, hee, hee! Maybe it doesn't go like this, maybe you have to turn it...", he continued, grabbing the other nipple as if it were the dial of a radio.

"Ouch, be still! That's the nipple that rubs against the automail, and it's very sensitive", Edward tried to keep his hands away, but with little effort.

The fact that a half-smile had appeared on his lips, betrayed that he was liking this more than he admitted.  
Alphonse went a little further, and put his hand between his legs.

"Wow, there's a lever here! What will this do? It's down, I wonder how to lift it..."

Ed twisted, partly to get away, and partly for the pleasure of feeling those fingers caressing his cock after all this time.

"Aaah, Al, stop! What's wrong with you now, why do you torture me like this?"

"I don't know... I've become affectionate."

"Really? Well, you've chosen the most inopportune moment to get horny. Right now I don't have time to... Oooh!"

Above the foam had emerged the pink, cleft tip of his glans, hidden a few seconds earlier. Al had no more doubts about how insincere his brother's complaints were.

"I knew there was some way to raise that lever. What I don't know is what this little sack does down here", Edward stirred, and sprinkled around him carelessly as he felt the touch on that delicate part. Self-conscious, he closed his legs and brought his knees to his chest in an attempt to protect himself. Although this only served to expose other vulnerable parts. "Oh? And this little hole? Can we put anything in here?"

His brother's finger tickling his orifice was more than Ed could handle, and he jumped out of the tub.

"Enough, Al! You know I have work and still keep turning me on. Don't you see how cruel it is?"

But Alphonse leaped on him with the towel in his hand and enveloped him, knocking him to the ground in the process.

"Where do you think you're going, brother? I won't let you go so soaking wet, to make a mess of everything with the water."

Al's hands rubbed him vigorously through the towel, first drying his hair and then the rest of his body. Lying on the floor, Ed abandoned himself to the sensual tingling of the fabric, caressing every inch of his sensitized skin. His brother clenched his fist around the bulge that rose between his legs and began to rub him there too, with an upward and downward movement that lingered suspiciously at the end. Edward bit his lip, suppressing a moan.

"Al... What you're doing... You're not drying me... You're giving me a handjob."

"You don't say, brother."

"If you keep this up I'll end up wetting the towel and getting it all dirty."

"It can be washed."

The gauntlet thumb pressed the fabric against his slit, tracing a circle with devilish skill, and Ed's legs trembled. The moan he kept to himself finally came out, along with a stain of moisture on a very particular place of the towel.

"Stop it, Alphonse, please! I don't want to cum now. I have to keep studying, and I cann't do it if I'm half sleepy."

Al let go of him and stood up, staring at him from above with his hands on his hips.

"Seriously? Are you going to study with _little Eddie_ like that?"

Edward's cheeks hesitated between fiery red and a corpse pallor. He looked down, where his cock peeked out under the towel, trying to draw his attention with small spasms.  
 _Little Eddie. Shit!_

"Fuck, Al! You also know that? Are you trying to kill your older brother with shame!?"

Alphonse chuckled, and wrapping him so he wouldn't get cold, picked him up in his arms and went to the bedroom. Edward only complained out of habit, since the way he embraced him revealed how much he had missed that kind of contact, and how much he wanted it now.  
When Al threw him unceremously on the mattress of his own bed, Ed was already floating in a cloud of happiness.

"What are you going to do with me, Al?" he whispered, stretching himself on the towel with voluptuousness, and exposing his naked body in all its glory.

"I'm going to do you everything! And you'll be so shattered, you'll have no choice but to sleep soundly all night. And tomorrow morning you won't get up early because it's Sunday, but you'll stay in bed resting and having a good breakfast. And then, if you behave well and eat everything, maybe you'll have a second round, brother."

Ed smiled upon seeing him in that attitude, with arms folded and scolding him severely as if he was his teacher. It was something between funny, touching and deeply arousing.

"God, Al! Seeing you like this makes me very, very horny", and as if to emphasize the statement, Ed brought his automail hand to his cock and began stroking it erratically. Alphonse sighed, shaking his head.

"You're hopeless, brother. You know what you are? You're a... a..."

"What?", he asked, narrowing his eyes in a gesture he thought suggestive.

"A little bitchy boy."

Edward almost burst out laughing:

"But Al, where did you learn those curses?"

Alphonse shrugged, leaving on the nightstand a bottle of liquid soap that he had taken from the bathroom. Then he threw himself on the bed next to Ed, not thinking how heavy he was, and that he almost broke the bed and tossed his brother to the floor in the process. The right arm of the armor wrapped itself around Edward's waist and began to caress his side with his fingertips. There was a tangible emotion in the lights of his helmet as he ran them through his anatomy.

"What are you thinking, Al?"

"I think I wish I had lips. To kiss you right now."

"And where would you kiss me?" continued Ed, drawing circles on his cuirass with coquetry. Alphonse's finger settled on his forehead.

"Here", he said, and descended to his cheek. "And here", he added, and then stroked his brother's lips. "And here."

Edward smiled, and reaching for the bottle of liquid soap, took Al's hand and began to smear it until it was wet and slippery.

"You would only kiss me there?"

Alphonse shook his head. With his soaped finger, he marked each of the spots of his body that he would honor with his mouth if he could. On the side of his neck, on his collarbone, on his hardened nipple, on his stomach, on the point of his navel where blond hair was born... Ed closed his eyes and imagined that those slight touches were indeed the kisses of his brother, leaving moist spots on his skin, and a strange mixture of warmth and melancholy struck him.  
The last kiss was at the end of his member, which reacted to the touch with anxiety. Ed spread his legs a little, and his brother's hand slipped between them until his index finger reached his hole. There he stopped, waiting for a receptive gesture from his brother, and stroking his entrance's rim in circles.  
Edward let out a groan of despair and opened himself further.

"Do it, Al. Do it, please. I'm ready, I'm all yours, what are you waiting for?"

Then the tip of that thick finger slipped inside him. And Al vaguely sensed how all the muscles tensed and relaxed in turns around his extremity. Ed moaned and writhed a little.

"You say you're all mine, brother?"

"Yes, Al, yes, my body, my soul, all yours! I've always been... Now penetrate me a little deeper, please."

Al buried the middle phalange of his gauntlet to the joint. His brother's body seemed to adapt easily to the intrusion, but he didn't dare to ask what he had done to make it so. He moved a little inside the narrow duct and watched the expression of pleasure on Ed's face. Perhaps if he had a real face and a body to penetrate him properly, he would also have that expression right now.

"You say you're all mine, but you don't trust me with all your thoughts. Why have you been so far from me lately? I've felt very alone."

Ed bit his lip as he felt the finger teasing him, so close to his secret spot but not touching it yet, and struggled to impale himself deeper. But Al's strong arm held him in place.

"Oh, Al! There are things... There are things I must face alone. Because I'm the older brother, and the one responsible, and the main culprit of what happened... I don't want to overwhelm you with that burden... But please, finish entering, don't leave me like this!"

Out of breath, Edward tried to reach his cock with his hand, to at least get some gratification, but Al held both his arms over his head, taking advantage of his free arm.

"Every time you try to burden yourself with all the blame, you burden me with the pain of seeing you suffering, and with even greater guilt. Don't you realize, brother?"

"But I'm... I'm the sinner! I deserve punishment... Al, Al, fuck me at once! Why are you so bad?"

"Well, you said you deserved punishment, didn't you?"

Alphonse moved his finger again, brushing against the walls, but not penetrating further. And in response, Edward whined and stretched out agonizingly. His side rose and fell with rapid breathing, and his cock throbbed painfully between his legs, topped by droplets of fluid that had nothing to do with soap.

"All right, Al, all right! When all is over, when we have recovered our bodies, I'll be your slave forever and I'll do as you wish. But until then... let me do things my way... Please."

Taking pity on him, and already satisfied with his little "revenge" for all the food dishes thrown away, Alphonse penetrated him to the bottom.  
His brother's cry of pleasure and his face at that moment, made him feel all sorts of things, even inside his cold armor. Careful not to hurt him, he moved his finger in and out. And he must have touched something special inside his body, for at one moment Ed shuddered, and a kind of electric current passed through Al's arm and flooded him with his pleasure's reflection.  
To his surprise, Alphonse heard himself moaning. Eager to experience again that wonderful sensation, Al searched for that spot over and over, until Ed practically went into a trance. His older brother embraced him feverishly, reached under the armor's loincloth, and began to stroke that smooth metal pelvis, furious for not finding anything else to grasp. Alphonse jerked up and blushed internally. Edward had never touched that particular part of his armor before, not because it had anything special (it was just a piece of steel like any other), but out of some kind of implicit modesty. The armor was, after all, Al's body, and each of its parts held the same meaning as the corresponding flesh and bone parts of a normal person. So the fact that Ed was touching him there in such an obscene, desperate way... The little desire that Alphonse had known until then paled in comparison with the lust that took hold of him at that moment.  
His finger quickened its pace, profaning his brother's hole with a wet sound, and always looking for the magic spot, which now seemed to have swollen.  
Unable to restrain himself any longer, the eldest of the Elric pressed his crotch against his brother's pelvis and began to rub his cock against its surface, leaving small lines of fluid in its path. Alphonse moaned again, and his hips accompanied his brother's movement of their own accord. The metal was no longer cold, in fact, Al had the impression of being incandescent, especially around his seal. Everything around him was a cloud of heat: his brother's duct throbbed hot, his breath against his armor left hot mist, his slippery glans slided hot... And the burst of white fluid seemed to boil as it spilled against his pelvis.  
Both brothers let out a cry at the same time; Edward overwhelmed by the best orgasm he had ever had in his life, and Alphonse half frightened, upon realizing that this could have been the first orgasm of his.  
Almost weeping with joy, Ed leaned his head against his brother's chest, trembling up and down among spasms. Al felt his muscles contracting around the invading finger.

"Ah, it's so sensitive...! It hurts a little. Take your finger out, please", groaned Edward. Al obeyed and left his body very slowly. Suddenly, they both felt a little empty. "Hmmm... You've fucked me so well, Al! It was fantastic, it was the best thing I've ever felt."

"Is it so?" asked Al, thrilled by the compliment. "Actually, this time it was more intense for me as well. Maybe because we were joined? I don't know, but I've felt this discharge inside me... I think I cummed, brother. A little at least."

Edward opened his eyes, and looked up at him with a sleepy smile:

"That's great, Al! Although a bit hard to verify, without a reference. But when you have your body... when you have your body...", a yawn interrupted his words. "... then you'll feel things a thousand times more intense, you'll see. And you'll cum for real. Inside me", then, as he said this, a sudden thought struck his brain before it turned off completely. "Al, may I ask you a question?"

"Of course, brother."

"Why did you do this? You didn't want to... I mean, you didn't want to penetrate me. Why now?"

Al shrugged, stroking his cheek.

"I don't know. It's true I didn't want to, I was afraid. And I'm still, a little. But I've understood that those small concerns aren't as important to me as seeing you happy, brother. And I want us to be always together; if this is the way you have chosen for us to be, then I'm fine."

Ed sighed with content and curled up like a satisfied cat.

"Thank you, Al, thank you. You've made me very happy, really... The only thing left... Only thing left is... Your body..."

The next thing that was heard was Ed's quiet breathing as he fell asleep. After so many days of strenuous work and poor sleep, he had finally given in to exhaustion. Al pulled the towel from under his body, and wiped him and himself.

 _So much for the bath. I hope he'll take a shower tomorrow, at least_ , he sighed, and looking at the stained towel with some disgust, threw it to the floor. One more thing to wash the next day.

After that, he wrapped his brother carefully, pulled his hair back from his face (since it was still a bit damp), and got up from the bed. Ed needed to rest well that night, and he couldn't do it with his hard, huge body occupying more than half the mattress.  
With nothing better to do, Alphonse left the bedroom and wandered around the house. A knot of restlessness had formed around his stomach, and he couldn't make it disappear. Peeking out one of the windows, he stopped to watch the night sky. The stars twinkled in the clear firmament, like a million eyes that looked back from afar.

 _Have we gone too far? What I've done with my brother a while ago... was it an unforgivable sin? This is what Ed wanted, but I don't know if I should have listened to him. He seemed so submissive... It's curious that such a rebel, dominant person can change so much in bed. Why does he like to be violated that way? I hope it won't be another way to punish himself for what happened, -_ these were the thoughts that tormented him then.- _And if mother could see us, what would she think of all this? Would she weep, hate us forever, give up being our mother and drive us out home?_ , -Al leaned his head on the window pane, and a star gave him a reassuring wink.- _No, Mom would never do that. She loved us too much. I think she would be frightened at first, she might be angry... But once she realized we did everything out of love, she would accept it. I think so, at least... Because what joins us is true love, right? That is, there were no impure intentions in us, it wasn't mere lust or anything like that, was it? I... I don't know what's the truth. But I'd rather believe this.  
_  
Al stared one last time at the sky, but the stars had no more answers for him. Was their mother somewhere up there, among those stars? Could she see them after all?  
In an attempt to keep those worries out of his mind, Al decided to go take a look at Roy.  
The cat had thrown the trough and the water bowl again, and now slept snuggled in an old box, seeming totally innocent.

"Roy! You also despise the food and water that I bring you? You silly cat, you're as self-destructive as my brother!" he scolded, while he mopped and swept the little room, without the cat even deigning to move an ear in his direction.

Sighing, Al went to the kitchen with the dustpan, to throw the remains in the trash. It was then that he passed by the study and discovered that the door was ajar. Of course: he had taken his brother from there by force, and after the bath he had brought him straight to bed. When would he close the study?  
Overcome by curiosity, Alphonse left the dustpan on the floor and entered the room with his heart in his throat. He knew his brother didn't want to show him anything of that, and that he was somehow violating his privacy, but his desire to discover the mystery was too powerful.

What Al discovered in that messy room, under the light of a lamp, didn't clear any of his doubts, but worried him even more. Buried under the books on basic alchemy, placed there only to mislead, were the volumes that his brother had actually been studying. Ancient books, some with almost rotten covers, and very strange titles that Alphonse had never heard. The content was also unintelligible, encrypted with some unknown system. By now his brother should have deciphered them; he was very good with those things. But Al didn't find his notes on the code anywhere. Thus, he settled for writing down the titles and authors in a paper to investigate them later.  
Also hidden under some papers covered in scribble (some with half pornographic drawings), he discovered his brother's diagrams. If the books seemed mysterious, he didn't like those circles of transmutation at all. They reminded him too much of the human transmutation circle, although there were significant differences.  
To begin with, the great cross of Flamel in the center, and superimposed on it, the ouroboros that was mark and signal of the homunculi. What was this doing there? Upon closer inspection, Alphonse noticed for the first time that the serpent's little wings made it look quite like the Sulfur serpent, the symbol of volatility.

 _And the cross of Flamel... fixation of the volatile?,_ around one of the corners of the pentagon, there were different crosses, placed there with a very particular intention. _Exactly, brother, what are you trying to fix ?..._


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

The next morning found Edward in an uncharacteristic good mood. He stretched himself languidly, and a somewhat embarrassed smile peeped out his lips as he remembered last night's events. He still felt slight jabs from time to time, but both his body and his mind were at peace. He hadn't slept so well in a long time, nor had such calm dreams.  
Looking at his lap, he discovered a tray with breakfast on the bed: a glass of juice, a toast with cheese and ham, an apple... and a huge cup filled with disgusting milk.  
Alphonse sat at the foot of the bed and watched him in silence, with an expression that Ed understood at the moment:  
"You have to take everything. Yes, including _that_."  
Ed rolled his eyes, and uttered a thousand curses between his teeth as he took the cup of milk. But in the end he managed to finish it, holding back the heaves, and the rest of the breakfast erased the bad taste of his mouth.  
The clock on the wall was already at eleven. He had wasted most of the morning, so he sat up with the intention of returning to the studio. But Al's hand held firmly on the mattress.

"Where do you think you're going, brother? No work today. You're going to take a day off, and if necessary I'll tie you to bed."

"Oh? Tie me to bed?" Ed smirked, raising an eyebrow with suspicion. "I didn't know you had those inclinations, Al."

"Inclinations? I don't understand anything you say."

"Well, okay, I'll stay in bed if you give me a good reason ...", and Ed began to stroke his brother's arm suggestively.

At least Alphonse understood that. And with great enthusiasm, he repeated everything they had done the night before, until both were satisfied and exhausted. However, Al couldn't hold his brother in bed much longer, and Edward ended up escaping his embrace and returning to the studio.  
Alphonse sat for a while on the bed, staring at the empty breakfast tray with an absent mind. Then he remembered the piece of paper in which he had written down the names of those sinister books last night. It was time to do something about it.  
Inside the studio, Edward sighed in frustration, and Alphonse seized the moment to sneak out to the street. He searched for a phone booth and dialed a number from his brother's appointment book.  
A female voice answered from the other side after several tones that seemed eternal.

"Sheska? It's me, Alphonse."

"Alphonse, it's been a while! How are you and Edward? It's been so long since we've seen each other... Where are you now?"

"Oh! We're both fine, don't worry. We've been living in Dublith for a while. Nothing new."

 _Nothing new? Such a lie!_ , Al scolded himself, then added, "How are you?"

"Fine, reading... As usual. My life isn't that interesting", Sheska giggled nervously, then paused as if she had just realized something, "But you're not calling me to ask about my boring life, are you? What's the problem, Al?"

The boy hesitated, a bit embarrassed of being so transparent even through a telephone:

"I... er... Actually I have to ask you something, Miss Sheska... I have here a list of books and... if you could investigate the titles and the authors... I've never heard anything about them, but you sure know where to look. Maybe you have even read them."

"So? What books are those?"

Alphonse took the paper between his fingers and dictated the titles one by one, while Sheska wrote them down at the other side of the line. When he finished, the girl remained silent for a few seconds, after which she determined that she didn't know them either, but she'd take care of searching for references. Nothing was more exciting to her than detective work, especially if there were books involved.

"Thank you very much, Miss Sheska. Can I ask for something else? Please be discreet. That is, my brother's superiors don't need to know about this. Not even the Colonel."

"Is something wrong?"

"No, no, nothing like that! Only... Well, I found these books at Ed's table, but he doesn't want to tell me what they're about. It's just simple curiosity. But if he finds out that I've been investigating on my own, he'll feel hurt and think that I don't trust him."

"I understand... Anyway, give me a phone number so I can call you when I find out."

"You can call me in this booth. I'll wait here for your call every day at seven in the afternoon", and Alphonse gave her the number on the handset.

After saying goodbye, Al hung the phone with the impression that Sheska was left somewhat worried. But he was sure he could trust her, and that she would be able to find the information. If anyone could do that, that was Sheska. Now all he had to do was wait.

And for three days he waited, standing by the booth at the exact time, without yet receiving any calls.  
The fourth day, about six-thirty, he was cleaning Roy's sandbox, when he heard the front door stealthily closing.  
Upon leaving the broom closet, he discovered that his brother had left the studio and gone to the street. But he wasn't fast enough to see which way he had disappeared.

* * *

Shortly thereafter, Edward pushed the door of the Devil's Nest and was greeted with a slap of smoke and alcohol smell. It was incredible how that clientele could be so drunk even before nightfall.  
His entrance attracted the attention of some clients, surprised to see a boy so young in such a den. And guessing a predatory gleam in the eyes of some, Ed hurried to find the person he had come for. He couldn't see him anywhere.  
Two women approached him through the smokescreen, each with cigarettes. One was blonde and the other a redhead, though neither seemed to be their natural color. When they reached his side, they gave him a pair of smiles in lipstick, and bent a little, planting before his eyes the largest breasts in the smallest dress that Edward had ever seen.

"Look this cute little thing! Are you lost, boy?" said the cleavage to the right.

"We could keep you company so you don't feel lonely", replied the cleavage to the left.

Ed hesitated, not knowing where to look. A drop of cold sweat trickled down his forehead.

"Ladies, I don't... I mean..."

"Are you a virgin?" continued the cleavage to the right.

"Would you like stop being one?" said the other cleavage.

At this, Ed jerked up and moved back a couple of steps, looking for an escape route, but one of the women noticed his silver watch and snatched it from his pocket.

"Look at this, Lucille, he's a National Alchemist! These guys have dough..."

"Hey, give me that back right now!" shouted Ed, feeling his blush grow into a furious red, "I don't want to hurt a couple of women!"

However, the redhead lifted the watch over her head, out of reach of the boy's frustrated jumps.  
From the back of the bar came a sly voice:

"Lucille, Rosalinda, leave the boy alone, come on! He's coming with me."

Greed stood before them, with his eternal grin from ear to ear.

"Oh? Then he isn't a customer, but the competition", groaned Rosalinda, returning the watch with a scowl of contempt. Edward snatched it away, but it took him a few seconds to catch the hint:

"Hey, watch what you say!"

Greed laughed and wrapped his arms around the waist of both women.

"Come on, young ladies, the boy is just 15 years old."

"15? We thought he was 12", said the blonde, perplexed. Ed fumed more than all the cigarettes in the room together.

"You are so deliciously immoral...", smiled the homunculus, kissing each one on the cheek, "But now, please, I need you to leave the boy and me alone. There's one thing I have to deal with him."

"As you wish, Greed. If this is what you're into now...", and with a shrug, the prostitutes turned away.

Greed led him to a table a little apart from the others.

"Those women are scary", said Edward as he sat down.

"Scary? They just want money. They live by and for avarice. Unlike most women, they don't want a family, or children, or a home, or a man who loves them, or to love anyone. Only money. They know what they want and how to get it. In my opinion, they're the most sensible women in the world", the homunculus brought the glass of whiskey to his lips, but paused for a moment to stare at his interlocutor; a shadow of melancholy had clouded Edward's eyes, "What's the matter, boy, don't you like women?"

The alchemist came out of his reverie with a slight start, and looked down.

"I don't know... I've never stopped to think about it. Anyway, I couldn't make any woman happy... Al is the only person I feel close, I just want to be with him. Always. I'm sure of that at least."

"Yeah. But is that what your brother wants too? Let's suppose he recovers his body. Don't you think that eventually he'd like to marry, have children, form his own family? A normal family?"

"Shut up!" Edward slammed the table with his fist, "He doesn't want any of those things, he wants the same as I do! The other day he showed it to me."

Greed shook his head and set the glass back on the board.

"Edward, Edward... What have you done?"

"Not your business!, he groaned, folding his arms and turning to the other side.

"Anyway, that's your problem. Now let's talk about what brought you here", continued the homunculus, lighting a cigarette and offering the pack.

"I don't smoke!"

"Pst! Worse for you, you're going to die the same...", and he leaned back in the chair, releasing a large puff of smoke, "I can only think of two reasons why you may have come to find me: either you miss my tongue in your privates, or else you've finished the transmutation circle and everything is ready for the ritual."

"And couldn't I have come for both reasons?" snapped Ed, crossing his legs and raising an eyebrow in an attempt to look interesting.

"Ha! Now don't give me that shit. A moment ago you were trembling, red with embarrassment, just for having a couple of boobs in front of your face."

"Mph!"

"But seriously. You've finished the transmutation circle, haven't you?" he nodded in silence, "I see..."

"You're not going to back out now, are you?"

"Of course not! Who do you take me for?"

"For the guy who first attacked me by treason in an abandoned building to fuck me, and then managed to do it with deception and false promises. For that guy I take you."

Greed shrugged, an expression of innocence that seemed to mean "Those are things that happen."

"No, really, I'm not going to fool you this time. I've made a decision and I'll take it to its final consequences."

Edward had to admit he was impressed by such determination. The homunculus knew he would most likely disappear, and yet he faced this kind of death with stoicism. He couldn't help but feel some appreciation and respect for him.

"If you want... eh... if you want... you can take a moment to say goodbye to your chimeras", murmured Ed, uneasy. Greed stirred the whiskey in the bottom of his glass.

"I won't do it."

"Huh? Why not? Perhaps you won't see them again, and even if I could transmute your soul into Al's armor, you wouldn't be the same. Don't you think it's unfair that you don't give them a chance to say goodbye at all?"

"Yes, it's unfair to them. But saying goodbye is... is painful for me", the homunculus drained his drink in one gulp and left the glass with a thud, "That's why I don't want to. I'm very selfish, that's my nature. And there are so many things that I'll miss... All the pleasures that accompany a physical body: the delicious burning of alcohol down my throat, the taste of a good cigarette, the feel of a naked, warm body... I can't say goodbye to everything."

Edward let out a sigh of resignation, glanced at Greed, absorbed in his melancholy, and sighed again. A part of him warned him about what he was going to say next:

"All right, Greed, fuck, all right! Take another drink, have another cigarette, and... are there any booths in this place?"

"Yes, in the back. Why?"

"You and I. No foreplay. 15 minutes."

"Huh?" Greed lowered his sunglasses, not quite sure he had heard what he had just heard. Ed blushed and looked away, biting his lip:

"What's up!? I told you I came for both reasons!"

The homunculus licked his lips and stifled a chuckle.

"Definitely, boy, I've corrupted you more than I imagined."

"Shut up!... It's just... I'm too generous, that's all."

* * *

At that same hour, in another part of the city, a telephone booth started ringing loudly. Al hesitated a few seconds, between anxious and worried about what awaited him on the other side of the receiver, and finally picked it up:

"Al?"

"Hi, Sheska, it's me", the girl's voice had trembled a little when she said his name.

"I got information about the books you told me. But if this is really what your brother has been studying, I'm afraid... I'm afraid you won't like what I have to tell you..."

Al tried to bring air into his nonexistent lungs to reassure himself.

"Please, Miss Sheska, tell me everything you know. I need to know", there was a sound through the phone of shuffling papers, and a sigh from Sheska.

"You see, Alphonse, all those books are about a very special kind of human transmutation. It could be said that it's advanced human transmutation. In fact, the authors assume that the practitioner is already familiar with the creation of homunculi. In other words, these books were written by and for those who had already committed the worst of taboos, the darkest alchemy. And of course, they're all in the banned book indexes of Central's library. This for example: _Caput Mortuum aut De Novo Initio_ , banned by the old religion in 1537. Almost all the copies were publicly burned. Or this other one, _Ascensiones Limen_ , that appears in the indexes of at least seven countries since 1668. The one which was believed to be the last copy disappeared mysteriously from a private collection a century ago. In addition, all these authors had the bad habit of finding a violent end. Marquis de Solage, locked in an asylum in 1774, hanged himself in his room. Baron Von Hochstaffel, killed in strange circumstances during a hunt, in 1840. A.C. Agrippa, disappeared without further ado in 1546; they only found his robe, next to the remains of a transmutation circle that stank of sulfur and blood... You can get an idea. Most of the original volumes have been lost or are in unknown hands, but occasionally incomplete copies appear on the black market. It's most likely that Edward's copies are such fakes, which would make the system even more dangerous and unpredictable. Seriously Alphonse, I don't understand... I don't understand how Ed could get into this, I believed him a sensible boy! And who could have recommended these books to him!? It's impossible that this is part of an investigation authorized by the army, impossible! But anyway, that's what I found on the subject. Sorry to give you this news."

Alphonse was left silent on the other side of the line, and it took him so long to answer, that Sheska almost thought he had left.

"Thank you... Thank you for all your hard work and effort, Miss Sheska. I knew you were the right person", he whispered at last, "Now I have to go. Send Lieutenant Colonel Hughes my regards."

Sheska gasped at the mention of her former boss. But she knew how to react in time, and Al barely felt the pang of pain in her voice:

"Sure, Al, I'll send him your regards. Take care of you and your brother."

With that, the boy hung up the phone. The anger he felt toward Ed at that moment made his fists clench. How could he be working on something so dangerous!? And even worse, how could he have concealed something like that, precisely to him!? They only had each other, but if Ed didn't trust him to protect him, who would? It was useless that his brother opened for him in the bedroom, to give him the most intimate part of his body without qualms, if for that which really mattered, he raised an impregnable wall between them.

Alphonse hesitated about what to do next. He could go home, kick the studio door open, and destroy all of Ed's diagrams, notes, and books. But his brother's fury upon discovering it was going to be legendary, and Al was afraid he'd never forgive him. No matter how stupid what Ed was doing, it was still important to him. And there was the risk of him having already memorized the system, so he'd simply resume work later and with even greater secrecy.  
No, he needed somebody with authority, somebody who made him come to his senses, one way or the other, so he'd never try again.  
Teacher Izumi. Edward would listen to her.

 _Though on the other hand... she's going to give him such a beating that she'll leave him half dead! Poor foolish brother... Anyway, it's for your good, Ed_ , and with this resolution, Alphonse ran to his teacher's house.

* * *

With a last moan, Edward dropped his head on Greed's shoulder, while his sweating, throbbing body recovered from the effort. It had been something more than 15 minutes, all because of his little willpower. Carefully, he pulled away from the homunculus, making him hiss, and climbed down his lap. He then proceeded to fix with alchemy the hole opened strategically in his trousers, and clean up any incriminating remains of what had just happened.

"Well, you must be happy! Now let's go home. It's time to start the ritual", announced the alchemist, too embarrassed to look at Greed in the face.

The latter sat still for a few seconds, his eyes narrowed in a dreamy expression.

"I think I hate you a little, Edward Elric."

"Why so!?"

"Because in spite of everything, you're the purest thing I've ever had in my hands. And because you make me feel things a homunculus shouldn't feel."

Edward shook his head.

"Come on, let's go!"

* * *

Alphonse hadn't been lucky in his quest for the teacher. The house was closed, and when he showed up at the butcher's shop, only Sig came out to greet him. Izumi had a pretty bad relapse and was now in the hospital. Her husband had only gone to the shop to attend some urgent business, but was about to return with her.  
Al struggled between the need to stop his brother as soon as possible, and the duty to accompany his teacher in those difficult moments. Besides, the sky had darkened, which reminded him that he had already lost too much time. Sig immediately sensed that the boy was in a predicament, and offered him some help. He didn't need to visit Izumi right now, he explained. She was stable and would recover soon; he'd convey his good wishes if that reassured Al.  
The boy thanked him, relieved, and walked the way back home. As he approached the building, he already felt that something was awry. He sensed something sinister in the air, an anomalous vibration. It was the scent of alchemy, somehow sensitive to him, even without smell. It was the same ominous feeling that had overwhelmed him that cursed rainy night, four years ago.  
Had it started already? Right now when he was about to stop him? Had he come too late?  
He pushed the front door with a creak. The landing was dark, as if no one was home.

"Brother?" he called, towards the black stairwell.

"Down here, Al. In the basement."

Alphonse went downstairs with a mixture of curiosity and repugnance. Just as a child, when he looked under the bed for monsters, and on the one hand he needed to know if there were any, but at the same time he didn't want to know, for fear of what he might find.  
His suspicions were confirmed in the worst possible way.  
There was Edward, in the center of the transmutation circle he had seen in his diagrams, painted with red chalk on the cellar's floor, and in a corner, Greed waited sitting in a chair, as if this had nothing to do with him. Edward had removed his jacket, and his entire left arm was covered with an intricate alchemical array. When his brother came down the stairs, he approached him and took his hands, his eyes feverish with emotion.

"It's all ready, Al. Today begins our new life, today we're forgiven for the sins of the past."

"What means all this, brother!? And why so much effort to hide it?"

Edward forced a smile and released his hands. With a slightly theatrical gesture, he pointed to the circle and Greed.

"Don't you understand yet? I'm going to transmute a homunculus to get your body back. I couldn't tell you before because I knew it would seem dangerous to you."

"Dangerous? It seems horrible! I mean, okay, Greed is our enemy and all that... But don't you think it's too cruel to kill him that way?"

"I'm not going to kill him! I'll try to fix his soul to your armor when you recover your body (if possible, of course). Anyway, he volunteered. It's not my fault if something goes wrong!"

Alphonse was scandalized by his brother's coldness. And he intended to perform that sinister experiment on someone who had intimately embraced him in bed, no matter the circumstances. He barely recognized Edward.  
He glanced sideways at the homunculus, who simply shrugged indifferently. Then he returned his attention to his brother, who tried to beguile him with sweet words to enter the circle's center.

"Why did you paint those symbols on your arm, brother?"

Edward was perfectly aware of the accusation in Al's voice, but managed to stay calm.

"It's the toll."

"Toll?"

"The price I'm going to pay for your body, to make up for Greed not being the original homunculus we created. I'm going to give my other arm for you, Al. Because I love you very much, because I need you, because for you I'd give everything. Al, my Alphonse..."

And Ed bent down to kiss the armor, but Al jerked away from him and backed up towards the stairs.

"You're crazy! Do you really think I'll let you mutilate yourself for me again!? None of this makes any sense, it won't work!"

"It's going to work! According to my calculations…"

"Don't tell me about calculations, brother, it won't work, I know! You say you're going to give your left arm, but you have no way to know if it's going to be like this! They could take your internal organs, your heart, your whole body... Anything! Anything but your common sense, because you no longer have one of those, so it seems."

Ed's expression had completely transformed. The sweetness of his eyes had given way to a shadow that threatened storm. Only that strange, feverish shine was reluctant to disappear.

"Al... Don't make me angry. I've worked too long on this for you to ruin it with your qualms. Enter the circle!"

"No, I don't want to have anything to do with this!"

"Al, enter the circle! It's the last time I repeat it...", threatened Edward. But Alphonse still refused, "I do this for your happiness, for our happiness!"

"That's not true! You do it for yourself, for your obsession with..."

"Alphonse, don't screw me! Enter-the-circle!", and Edward brought one hand to the other, in an attempt to begin an alchemical reaction.

Blue sparks began to snake between his fingers, and Greed lighted a cigarette, since this was getting interesting. In anticipation of what was coming, Alphonse got ready to defend himself. But his alchemy was no match for his brother's. The floor of the cellar deformed beneath his feet, and from it emerged a kind of cement roots, which curled around his ankles to drag him toward the center of the circle.

"Brother, stop all this madness! This is no way to do things", Al hit the roots with his strong hands, trying to get away, but the reaction started by Ed still brought him to his destination.

At last, a crack opened in one of the roots, and Alphonse managed to break it into pieces. Taking advantage of his free foot, he trampled the other to destroy it too, ignoring Edward's warnings. Before his brother had time to transmute something else, he lunged at him.

"Al! How dare you hit your big brother!? Ungrateful! After all I've done... after all...", shouted Ed among struggles.

The basement's dimness brightened for a second with another blue glow. However, this time Al was the fastest, and with a push slammed his brother against the wall, leaving him incapacitated. As soon as he did so, he already regretted it; judging by Ed's expression, he realized he had hurt him quite a lot.  
The impact shook a nearby piece of furniture, and a bottle of wine rolled from the top shelf, straight to Edward's head. With reflexes amplified by the imminent danger of his brother, Al interposed his arm in between.  
The bottle broke into a hundred pieces, and a stunned Edward watched the bloody waterfall spilling around him. His entire body ached, and Al's hands, those hands that had caressed him so often, now pressed him against the wall. With the same firmness, and at the same time with the same care with which they treated him in bed. The hands of Al, his metallic brother Al, who had refused his help.  
Once again he, Edward Elric, had failed. Downhearted, he stopped struggling, and Al released him, but he stayed crouched beside him.

"Why did you do this, brother?" he whispered, already calmer. Ed shook his head sadly.

"I told you already, I've done it for you, Al. Because I want to see your eyes again, I want to touch your hair, I want to feel your skin, I want... I want you to really make love to me. I want to get my brother back."

"But do you listen to yourself? _I want, I want, I want_. You say you do all this for me, but you're actually doing it for yourself. And also for the least appropriate reasons. How is it possible that, of the three people who are here, the one called Greed isn't the most selfish right now?" Edward bit his lip and closed his eyes tightly; he didn't want to cry, he didn't want to be seen crying. He had the impression that, ever since they arrived in Dublith, he had cried more than in his whole life. Al's gauntlet leaned against his cheek to comfort him, and turned his face to him, "Brother, look at me. What do you see? When people who know the truth see us, they feel sorry for me. They think I was the most unlucky because I lost my whole body while you just lost one arm and one leg. But they're wrong. I was luckier than you, because at least I can still see your eyes, your face, your smile. I can live without the burden with which you live. And that's why I thank you. But if you go ahead with this, if I lose you as a result, then what do I have left? Don't take away all I have, brother. All I have... is you."

It was then that the veil fell in front of Edward's eyes. And in a rapid succession of images, all the stupidities, all the mistakes and follies he had committed in recent times paraded before him.  
He began to sob softly.

"Then... Then everything has been in vain. If you don't want to get your body back... what do we do, Al, we give up?"

"No, brother, never that. Of course I want to get our bodies back, for both of us, but we have to do it right. Not this way", Al dried his tears, and after taking a breath in his lungs, Ed managed to stop crying.

"Even so, this is very hard for me. Wanting to join you and hitting a metal wall... It's so frustrating..."

"Can't you love me the way I'm now?" Edward opened his eyes, surprised by the question.

"Of course I can, Al, don't doubt that for a moment! I'd love you the same, no matter how you looked. I was very lucky to catch that armor just in time and give you a container with a more or less human form. But even if I had to use something else... If I had... If I had to fix your soul in a teapot, for example, even then I'd love you! And yes, shit, I would have spent my whole life embracing, kissing, and sleeping with a fucking teapot! Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist, the weirdo of the teapot. Do you think I'd mind?"

"Then, brother, you've given yourself the answer."

Edward paused for a moment, struck by this reflection. And he smiled faintly when understanding brightened him. Sometimes Al could be incredibly mature. Maybe he was becoming a man, after all.  
Leaning on him, Ed sat up, soaked in the wine of the floor, and the two brothers embraced. It was an embrace that forgave everything, that understood everything, that put each in the place of the other for an instant.

A chuckle between teeth broke the intimacy of the scene then, and grew in intensity to a burst of laughter:

"The weirdo of the teapot... heh, heh! The weirdo of the teapot... ha ha ha!", the Elrics turned annoyed towards Greed, whom they had completely ignored until now.

"Cut the crap, Greed!"

"I'm sorry, kid, I'm sorry, but it's just... I'm imagining you right now, making passionate love with a teapot... I mean, it would be just the right size for you, ha ha ha!" Al couldn't suppress a giggle at this.

"Al, you too!? Fuck off, both of you!" the laughter continued, and Alphonse wasn't even repressing himself anymore, "Stop imagining that! Bah!... I don't care, go get screwed!"

Wiping away the tears, Greed got up from the chair, threw his cigarette to the floor, and stretched his numb arms.

"Well, guys, it's been a lot of fun. But now I'd prefer the company of more normal people... Like my chimeras, for example."

"Tell the truth, Greed! You only agreed to participate in this because you knew it wouldn't get ahead after all", mumbled Ed, still annoyed by the teapot joke.

The homunculus shrugged.

"Partly I knew, and partly I didn't. I calculated a 30% chance that you wouldn't transmute me. I like risks, but you already know that, blondie", and leaning over his ear, he added, "Besides, in the end I got a second chance to fuck you, didn't I? And you looked so cute, bouncing all aroused on my lap... So I think my move turned out pretty well, all things considered."

Greed kissed him on the cheek, licking at the wine taste that permeated it, and Edward didn't even flinch. The embarrassment he felt at the moment was too overwhelming. And he could sense Al's stare sinking into him like a frozen dagger.

"Come on, kid, don't be jealous! His little cock and ass are all yours now, I give them back to you. And you can be satisfied; Avarice itself is being generous", said the homunculus, patting him lightly on the armor's shoulder pads, "And hey, if you ever get your body back... call me and we'll have a threesome, huh?"

Al instinctively scratched the top of his helmet.

"A threesome? As for playing cards?"

"Yes, exactly, just for that!" he burst out laughing, "God! I love this boy."

"Get lost, Greed!"

And after this outburst from Edward, the homunculus waved with an indolent gesture, and began to climb the stairs.  
Ed turned to an Alphonse who was greatly offended by his unfaithfulness, and was trying to explain his motives and circumstances, when the homunculus' head reappeared through the basement door:

"Boys... do you know you have a cat here?"

Al jerked up; it seemed that Roy had escaped again at the worst moment. Indecisive, he glanced at his brother. If Ed had been a chemical compound, he would have been nitroglycerin right then. Maybe he'd end up transmuting him and everything.

"Oh... eh... Well... This... I... Look, brother, I forgive you for what you've done with Greed and you forgive me for the cat! Equivalent exchange, okay?... Okay?"

"Al... I'm going to kill you."

As the aftermath of all this, of the long days of barely eating and sleeping, of the emotional tension, of eventual disappointment and failure, Edward fell ill with fever and had to stay in bed for at least a week. It was unusual for Ed to be ill, but when he was, he was an unbearable, ill-tempered patient. Alphonse had to call Winry to help him deal with him during that process.  
In those moments, Edward was quite calm looking at the ceiling. And he was already drifting into sweet drowsiness, when the bedroom door burst open.  
Of all the people who might have stepped on that threshold, that was the one Ed least wanted to see him in that state.

"Well, I'll be damned! They told me that in this house lived a famous National Alchemist. But all I see is a whitish, sweaty bean writhing in bed."

Ed groaned in despair.

"Weren't you supposed to be in the East or something, Colonel?"

Mustang shrugged with that charming smile that made him so mad, and he entered the room uninvited.

"It was supposed. But when I learned from Alphonse that my favorite little runt was going through a bad run, I felt the need to come and pay you a visit. In case I needed to fill in a death certificate or something."

"Ha, ha! Always so nice, Colonel."

Indifferent to sarcasm, Mustang approached him, and taking off a glove, he placed his hand on his forehead.

"Wow! They could fry an egg on your forehead, Fullmetal", he stated, and to Edward's horror, he sat on the bed beside him.

The boy withdrew to the other side, covering himself to his neck and pale with indignation.

"What are you doing!? Get out of my bed!"

"What's up? Are you afraid of giving me a fever? I'm not as weak as you, nothing's going to happen."

"It's not that! But I'm fed up with... with... those rumors!"

"What rumors?"

"The rumors! Don't play innocent, Colonel. You know what rumors I mean..."

Mustang was frankly puzzled. But he supposed the fever was making his subordinate delirious. Luckily for Ed, Winry came to his rescue.

"Uh... Colonel, I think Edward needs to rest right now. Besides, Al and I have finished making lunch. If you want to join us..."

Ed would have sworn that, for a split second, Mustang's arrogant grin was disturbed by a shadow at the sight of the girl. Although perhaps it was a hallucination. The next moment, the shadow had faded.

"Of course. I prefer a thousand times to accompany a pretty, educated girl like you, rather than this whiny bean", said the Colonel, rising from bed and ready to leave, "By the way, Fullmetal, I've heard something about high fevers at your age..."

"What?"

"That they stunt growth for good", Ed gritted his teeth in a parody of a smile.

"Hey, Colonel..."

"Yes?"

"Fuck you."

Both Mustang and Winry were paralyzed for a moment, but once again, the girl had enough reflexes to ease the tension.

"Oh, please, don't hold it against him, Colonel! He only says those things because he's feverish. Come on... Let's go to the dining room."

Mustang just frowned, and from behind his shoulder, Winry shot a murderous look at his friend. Just then, the cat slipped between the Colonel's legs and jumped on the bed. Edward had begun to understand the psychology of those animals: the more one endeavored to ignore them or even hate them, the more they endeavored to pursue the person in question. They were that wicked.  
Al's shouts came through the hallway as he ran into the bedroom:

"No, Roy, no! I've told you a thousand times not to lie in bed with my brother!"

There were few chances to see Roy Mustang blushing as visibly as he did then, but Edward savored every delightful second of it.

"I haven't... I haven't lied in bed with him, Alphonse. Who do you take me for!?", stammered the Colonel.

Al realized his blunder and the unfortunate consequences.

"This... Excuse me, Colonel Mustang... Roy is the name... is the name of my kitten."

"You called the cat "Roy"!?", the Colonel turned his shaken face to Ed, who returned a malicious smile while caressing the other Roy's head. For once he was glad that Al had adopted that kitty.

Winry realized that this situation could only get worse, and pulling his arm, dragged the Colonel out and into the dining room.  
Al crossed the entrance and closed the door behind him, taking a seat in a chair next to his brother.

"Shit, Al! Why did you call that bastard? I have enough with being bedridden, I don't need extra torture", complained Edward, dropping his head on the pillow with dejection.

"I thought it was important to tell him. After all, he's your superior. Besides, even if the Colonel likes to pester you all the time, I think he really loves you, brother. He cares for you. If not, he wouldn't have bothered to travel here to see you."

Edward snorted. He hated to admit that Al was right about this. Certainly the bastard had been like a father to them. Much better than that other dude who abandoned them as children and who just happened to be their biological father.  
Rolling on the bed in discomfort, Ed took his brother's hand and placed the back on his forehead. The metal coldness was a welcome relief for his fever.

"I'm a mess, Al. One moment I'm dying of heat, and the next I start to shiver. My body hurts like I've been beaten. And I'm so bored: I can't get up, the radio gives me a headache, if I read a book I get dizzy..."

"Well, you sure complain a lot, brother! At least you can play with _little Eddie_ to kill time, hee, hee, hee!" Edward looked at him as if he had said the biggest nonsense in the world.

"I already know that! What do you think I've been doing all morning?"

"Brother, I was joking..."

"That is, until Winry caught me wanking under the sheets... Now I don't dare."

"Maybe she didn't notice. Maybe she thought you were scratching yourself."

"She's not stupid, Al! Of course she noticed! She turned red like a tomato, began to stammer, and ran off without a word. Now she always knocks on the door before entering. God, what a shame!", Ed covered his face with his hands, "The worst of all is that she returned later, and just like that, began to advise me about automail's lubrication, and the care I should have not to damage "delicate surfaces" with it. Seriously, Al, I never wanted so much to be swallowed by the Door of Truth as then!"

"Don't be like that! Winry is a sweetheart. We're very lucky that she's our friend...", he lifted the gauntlet from Ed's forehead, and for a few seconds played nervously with his fingers. Something tormented him, "By the way... are we going to tell Winry?"

"Tell her what?"

"You know... our thing... What we have done..."

Even in his state, Edward possessed a brilliant analytical mind. And in an instant, paraded before his eyes all the possible consequences of telling Winry that he, Edward Elric, besides professing brotherly love for Al, also let him fondle and penetrate him to orgasm. There was the picture of Winry throwing a wrench at his head and dismantling Al piece by piece. Winry bursting into tears, for she had already made up her mind to marry one of them. Winry gleaming with ecstasy at the sight of true love, and hastening to tell the news to the whole world, to organize a wedding that wouldn't take place, and to offer herself as godmother of a child who wouldn't be born. Winry bringing out her dark side and getting into bed with the two of them.  
No outcome was pleasing (though well, the last one wasn't bad at all, but it was very unlikely).

"No, Al, no. We're definitely NOT going to tell any of this to Winry."

Al sighed. He truly would have liked to share that secret with Winry; it would have been like freeing himself of a great weight, like finally recognizing that their love could be valid and beautiful.  
He looked fondly at his brother's figure under the covers. That body, usually so energetic, but now weak and trembling.

"You know? In part I like to take care of you like this. Be the older brother for once. It makes me feel much tenderness."

Ed's eyes gave a perfidious glow.

"C'mon, give me a break! What happens is that you're turned on, seeing me so helpless. You know you could defile me whole right now and I couldn't help it."

Alphonse made a gesture as if rolling his eyes. And then he bent over him, and to Ed's surprise, he pressed the hard helmet's jaw to his lips. Edward blinked in puzzlement.

"What are you doing?"

"Oh... uh... I was trying to give you a kiss", said the boy, somewhat embarrassed, "Was it very dumb?"

"Yeah, quite dumb... I liked it", Edward smiled, and lifted an arm with some effort to stroke the side of the helmet. No, not the side of any helmet; his cheek, Al's cheek, "You're going to be so handsome when you get your body back..."

"And tall, brother, don't forget that. I'm going to be much taller than you", Ed giggled.

"You're the only one allowed to say those things, Al. But yes, I'm sure you'll be taller than me. I _want_ you to be taller than me."

"Yes. And since I'm going to be so tall and handsome, all the girls will want to go with me. No one is going to notice you, I'm afraid."

"Come now, don't be a prick!" he teased, tapping him on the shoulder. But then Edward became serious and lowered his eyes, "Hey, Al... One time you asked me if what we were doing was normal between siblings. I replied that it didn't matter because we aren't normal. However... the day will come when you recover normalcy. And maybe, come that day, you'll want to lead a life like that of other people. Maybe you'll want to have a girlfriend like the rest of the boys, maybe you'll want to get married and have children. A normal life. And that is perfectly acceptable, you have every right in the world to desire it and have it. You've been the strange kid in armor for too long. And I don't want... I don't want you to feel tied to me. I don't want you to think that, somehow, you belong to me. I'll always be there, I'll always be available to you. But that is the path I've chosen, it doesn't have to be yours."

Alphonse leaned back in the chair, and for a long moment he didn't know what to say. Edward's breathing and heartbeat were now deafening in the midst of silence.

"Do you really think you're going to get rid of me so easily?" Al's little voice broke his meditations, "You seem to forget that you still owe me a big favor, brother. A favor for having saved you from that stupid transmutation you were about to do. And by Equivalent Exchange, you have to return the favor."

Edward blushed and opened his eyes in surprise:

"Uh... sure. What do you want me to do?"

"Well, since we've talked about how handsome I'll be when I regain my body, and the many girlfriends I'll have... It turns out there's a problem. Because I'm going to be very inexperienced with my body and... I mean, I don't want to make a fool of myself in bed with any girl. So... well, I'm going to need someone to practice with...", he slid his gauntlet under the sheet and playfully stroked his brother's chest, "Practice many, many times..."

"Oh really? And how long will you keep me as a slave of your desires?", purred Edward, narrowing his eyes.

"Mmm... Let me think... As I saved your life, that's what you owe me. Thus, according to Equivalent Exchange... All your life, brother."

Edward smiled to himself and turned redder. The laws of that world could be inexorable, cruel even. And they didn't make exceptions with anything or anyone. If you want something, you have to sacrifice something in return. There's no gain without loss. There's no joy without pain. As the night follows the day, so happy moments can't be but islands of rest in the middle of a sea of heartache. That's the inflexible law of Equivalent Exchange.  
However, on that occasion and exceptionally, Edward told himself that, sometimes, one received more than he had given in return. And Equivalent Exchange had never seemed so blissful.


End file.
